Randstad is pleased to present the 2016 edition of Flexibility@work: an annual report on flexible labor and employment. The Flexibility@work report provides a comprehensive overview of international employment trends in the flexible labor market. Additionally, we zoom in on a specific development in the world of work. This 2016 edition will focus on the change and transitions in the digital era.
The research, ‘Future of Work in the Digital Age’ by KU Leuven and Utrecht University reveals the labor market is in the midst of drastic changes. To understand the transition currently taking place in the labor market the researchers assessed two related phenomena: deindustrialization and job polarization in OECD countries. These phenomena capture the shifting composition of the labor market, a clear sign for a labor market in transition. Next to the decrease of manufacturing in the developed countries, the growth in services can be decomposed into low-tech, low-paying and high-tech, high-paying employment, which reveals the trend of the current job polarization.