MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS (EMPL)
One in three workers worldwide are anxious about the future of their work due to the automation and digitalisation of increasingly complex tasks. How should the EU adequately equip citizens with the skills needed to adapt to the transformation of the job market and what should social welfare models look like in the future?
Submitted by: David Cvetkovski, Jason der Kinderen, Amy Tarling, Rebekah Tewelde, Daksh Khanna (Chairperson, NL)
The European Youth Parliament aims to propose feasible measures that aid workers in the transition to an increasingly digitised and automated job market in order to prevent employment inequality. We want to ensure that all workers benefit from equal opportunities to enter the job market, including those partaking in non-standard employment,
because
- Many medium skilled workers are at risk of losing their jobs due to automation and digitalization in the workplace,
- The welfare schemes of traditional workers are not equal to those of gig workers[mfn]Gig work is a type of employment wherein the worker is not consistently employed by someone, who pays then a periodical wage. Instead, they are ‘’independent contractors’’, who take on jobs as high-skilled workers. Some examples include writing or graphic design.[/mfn], putting the latter at a disadvantage in working conditions,
- Workers lacking technological and digital knowledge will experience limited employment opportunities,
- The automation and digitisation of jobs presents the risk of increased inequalities between EU citizens on the basis of their education levels
Therefore, the European Youth Parliament,
- Asks Member States to focus the implementation of new technologies on sectors such as healthcare, in which they will improve productivity and quality, rather than instantaneously replace jobs;
- Encourage the European Commission to further invest in the development of Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems[mfn]VET system: Vocational Education and Training (VET): responsible for the development of skills people need to be active in the workforce. Through teaching skills, but also reteaching skills, VET helps to lower dropout rates and the transition from school life to the labour market.[/mfn], such as those created by CEDEFOP, to equip citizens with the skills needed to partake in platform economy[mfn]Platform economies are circulations of the work that is based online. This work can be divided into two parts. The first one being platforms for companies to request work, and platforms for people who are offering their services.[/mfn];
- Strongly encourages Member States to further develop their social welfare systems by adequately supporting previously self-employed and disabled unemployed people into increasingly digitised labour markets;
- Invites Member States to enforce a minimum wage for gig workers in order to ensure that they benefit from a decent standard of living;
- Calls upon Member States to aid in the training of future generations of workers by offering:
- courses in primary schools focusing on the usage of technology, for instance through computer science classes,
- high school students the opportunity to focus on more digital-oriented curricula;
- Requests Member States to further increase the taxation of higher-income workers in order to redistribute more funding towards the training of less educated workers.