Prais Lecture 2023: The Future of Work and Wellbeing
Automation technologies are transforming work, society and the economy in the UK in ways comparable to the Industrial Revolution, with their adoption likely to significantly impact the future labour market. Whilst there may be a productivity enhancement as new roles emerge, work patterns altered and new skills developed, it is likely that there will be a disproportionate effect on demographic groups in lower paid roles whose jobs can more easily be automated. In short, like any evolution, it will not be the strongest or fittest that survive but those most adaptable to the change.
Building on his seminal work on labour market frictions, the Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Sir Christopher Pissarides will discuss the implications of these automation technologies and explore how this rapid technological transformation will impact different communities and groups of workers from different backgrounds throughout the UK. In doing so he will examine how skills requirements are rapidly changing; how the location of work is shifting; and how the growing uncertainty about the impacts of technology require a rethinking about the structure of work.