CIO & LEADER-November 2017 (1)

Insight
similarly be replaced by sensors monitored
remotely in centres that provide
surveillance for multiple sites.
Thirdly, the nature of work will be
affected. Digitalization may automate
some tasks or activities but not others.
An increasing number of tasks that
are components of even highly skilled
jobs risk becoming automated and/or
outsourced. For example, secretarial
work was first disrupted when computers
reduced the need for assistants.
The next disruption may be the shift
to digital assistants, further reducing
the need for secretarial assistance. The
use of digital devices will grow in different
jobs, requiring different kinds
of skills. Car mechanics routinely
run diagnostics on laptops, and truck
drivers use GPS devices, including for
route optimization, fuel efficiency and
fuel prices. The next technology, which
is already being rolled out, is connected
devices that transmit usage and
maintenance data (e.g. of car engines
and tyres) directly to the factory and
service facilities.
Routine tasks that follow explicit and
codifiable procedures, whether they
are manually intensive (such as typing)
or cognitive intensive (e.g. book- keeping),
are more likely to be automated
with software. A profound – and yet
unanswered – question is what percentage
of tasks in various jobs will
ultimately yield to automation, and
how much labour will be needed to
perform the remaining tasks. Whether
a job will continue to exist in a transformed
form or disappear altogether,
automation will change the traditional
division of labour and tasks, affecting
all sectors and all levels of skills.
Finally, digitalization will change
the conditions of work. Online platforms
are matching tasks across the
whole skills spectrum (from “counting
clicks” to writing articles or coding). As
noted in chapter III, these platforms
are transforming labour markets by
favouring certain types of contracts
(freelance and contract work over
regular employment) and enabling
the entry of new competitors. As a
result, workers with high levels of
social protection find themselves in
competition with other workers (in
the domestic market or abroad) with
low levels of social protection. This has
implications for how benefits, health
care and pensions are organized, and
for the provision of training and continuing
education.
Digitalization is transforming jobs
across all sectors and economies, and
will create opportunities as well as
challenges in developing countries.
However, its overall effects remain
uncertain, being context-specific and
differing between countries and sectors.
The main risk of digitalization is
unlikely to be joblessness, but rather
increased polarization and widening
income inequality. While challenging,
the impacts of digitalization on
skills requirements, jobs and employment
raise issues that are necessary
to address. Countries that lack people
with the relevant skills will be at a disadvantage.
A range of policy measures
on both the demand and supply side,
including in the areas of education and
skills development and in the labour
market, may have to be considered.
Measures will need to be adapted to
each country, taking into account the
current state and level of education,
training and skills as well as the degree
of digital connectivity and use. Irrespective
of the situation in countries
today, they should start preparing for
future transformations. Activities and
discussions related to the ILO’s Future
of Work Centenary Initiative could
support such preparations
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