Future of Work

If you’re scratching your head over stuck wages and dwindling job benefits, massive corporate outsourcing is one place to look. David Weil, author of The Fissured Workplace, explains how companies’ use of indirect contractors is one reason wages aren’t going up. David Weil is the Dean and Professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School of Social Policy and Management. He served as US Wage and Hour Administrator at the Department of Labor during the last three years of the Obama administration.

For more information go to: 
www.oecd.org/employment/
www.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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The mystery of stagnating wages. David Weil elucidates.

Our social world is incredibly nuanced and complex, says Maeve Cohen of Re-thinking Economics. It cannot be condensed into one economic model, we need to be holistic and humble, looking at different schools of thought and being prepared to acknowledge when we’re wrong.

For more information go to: 
www.oecd.org/economy/
www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Maeve Cohen on why traditional economics are broken and what needs to change

Professor Robert Allen provides some historical context for the current upheavals in the world of work and discusses why adjusting to these changes may be more challenging than we think.

For more information go to: 
http://www.oecd.org/employment/
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/employment

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Understanding the past to plan for the future of work

Are humans better than the purely self-seeking, competitive, 100% rational agents Smith and Friedman make us out to be? Billionaire tech investor Nick Hanauer thinks not. He thinks it’s time to replace the zero-sum, trickle-down economic model with a kinder, gentler and more realistic one that takes into account humans’ capacity to cooperate.

For more information go to: 
www.oecd.org/economy/
www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis and Lory Martinez

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Activist billionaire Nick Hanauer calls out neo-liberal economics

Specially tailored skills training is helping indigenous people get jobs, says Canadian indigenous businesswoman Dawn Madahbee Leach. This includes in the mining industry, which offers employment prospects in remote areas, home to many indigenous communities. And, Leach argues, indigenous involvement in mining can improve the sector’s environmental record.

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Is indigenous mining a win-win paradox?

Women’s pay has been catching up to men’s since 1968 but women still earn 49 cents to every dollar men make. And that’s been true for the past 15 years. 

How can women achieve equal pay for equal value? Zara Nanu, the co-founder and CEO of Gapsquare, is counting on algorithms.   

For more information go to: 
http://www.oecd.org/gender/

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Cracking the glass ceiling on wages: Gapsquare CEO Zara Nanu

The days when people held a full-time job for most of their lives and accordingly received benefits are over. Nowadays, many of us are temps, self-employed, and artists. We work part-time, pick up gig work, take on zero-hour contracts. How do we reconcile social security like pensions, unemployment benefits, and medical insurance with these more fluid forms of work? We discuss this and ideas like Universal Basic Income with Monika Queisser, who is Head of Social Policy at the OECD. 

Host: Kate Lancaster   
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Retrofitting social security to new ways of working: OECD’s Monika Queisser

The wisdom of crowds? Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts in the UK, discusses the crowdsourcing power behind platforms like Wikipedia and Google maps. And how well-designed collective intelligence can revolutionise healthcare, sustainable development and much, much more.

For more information go to:
http://www.oecd.org/sti/

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis 

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Seven billion heads are better than one: Geoff Mulgan on collective intelligence

College graduates, entrepreneurs, inventors—talented people are increasingly on the move for school and for work. William Kerr, D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and author of The Gift of Global Talent, discusses how to attract talent, where it clusters and the match-up between global talent and superstar firms. 

Host: Kate Lancaster    
Producer: Robin Allison Davis
Sound Engineer: Borja Ortuzar

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Harvard’s William Kerr on global talent: what it is, where it goes & how to keep it

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern was in Paris earlier this month for a global summit on online violent extremism. New Zealand’s initiative, Christchurch Call, is a pledge that countries will set guidelines on how the media should report acts of terrorism, and adopt and enforce laws on objectionable material. This follows the country’s ban on semiautomatic weapons and assault rifles weeks after the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019. In this short interview, Ms Ardern discusses the initiative as well as New Zealand’s landmark Well-Being budget, housing and the future of work.

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis
Sound engineer: Borja Ortuzar

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Jacinda Ardern on Christchurch Call and how New Zealand's focusing on well-being

In a world where machines can do more and more, what skills and knowledge will today’s children need in order to be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow? The OECD’s Andreas Schleicher says that AI and tech can make our lives and work a lot more rewarding and interesting – if we are prepared. We need to think about how human skills can complement those of machines, rather than try to do what they do. And we need to talk a lot less about education that ends at the school door and a lot more about how to give people the capacity and motivation to continue learning, to continue to expand their horizon every day. 

For more information on education, go to: 
http://www.oecd.org/education/
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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First-class humans, not second-class robots – Andreas Schleicher on learning and the future of work

Work as we know it will never be the same. In fact, it already isn’t the same for some people. According to the OECD, 14% of jobs in OECD countries are highly automatable – another 32% of jobs could be substantially changed in how they’re carried out.

Matthew Taylor discusses some ideas on how to extend the social security net to platform workers and how he thinks the general landscape of employment will evolve. Mr Taylor is the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). His 2017 review on modern employment, "Good Work”,  was commissioned by the UK prime minister.

To hear more from Matthew Taylor, watch our interview on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RXKZrIECqXc

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Robojobs: Matthew Taylor on the future of work

The digital economy is bringing great opportunities for people, but also many risks, says Portugal’s Minister of the Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira. To ensure that everyone benefits from this brave new future of work, we need to build on the social foundations that have worked for decades and make them fit for today. Countries need the right policies in place, from social protections to cover us when we’re sick, out of work or retired, to investment in education, training and reskilling. And if we don’t get this right, it’s democracy itself that will suffer.

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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The digital economy can’t just concentrate on the few says Minister Pedro Siza Vieira

When it comes to the jobs of the future, you can’t squeeze people out of the equation, says Ben Pring. An optimist, he believes that what makes us human, our soft skills, will be more valuable than ever. And as machines take on more dirty, dangerous or simply dull tasks, people will be able to do work that is more interesting, engaging and meaningful. Ben Pring is co-founder and leader of the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work and author of What To Do When Machines Do Everything. 

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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The jobs of the future will still need humans: Cognizant’s Ben Pring

New technologies such as automation and AI are rapidly reshaping our economies and our work. For Stefano Scarpetta, head of the directorate for employment, labour and social affairs at the OECD, these changes aren’t likely to lead to massive, technologically driven unemployment, but rather can bring opportunities if the right policies and support are in place. In order to build an inclusive future of work, governments – together with employers, trade unions and civil society – need to act now. Because if we wait to see exactly how technologies are changing our economies, we’ll always be too late.

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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What can governments do to be ready for the future of work? With OECD’s Stefano Scarpetta

Ever wonder what is meant by “human capital”? Then is the episode for you. Join OECD economists, Zuzana Smidova and Jarmila Botev, for an explanation of what human capital is, why it matters, and what we can do to boost human capital, whether as an individual or a country. And to find out even more about human capital and how your country measures up, visit oe.cd/human-capital.

Host: Kate Lancaster
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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What is human capital? With OECD’s Zuzana Smidova and Jarmila Botev

In early 2020, the employment rate in OECD countries hit a new record high, after the decade-long recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, with millions of people unable to go to work, an exceptionally stark drop in economic activity and unprecedented job losses. What needs to be done to get firms back in business and people back to work?

www.oecd.org/employment-outlook
www.oecd.org/coronavirus

Host: Kate Lancaster
Guest: Stefano Scarpetta, Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Overcoming the Covid-19 jobs crisis

Covid-19 has upended the jobs market. More than ever, people need to retrain to adapt to the change and loss in jobs. Governments and businesses require data to pinpoint what kinds of jobs the economy needs and what skills are missing, and then invest. Jacques van den Broek is the CEO and executive chair of the Executive Board of Randstad, a global leader in Human Resources services.

For more information, go to: www.oecd.org/coronavirus

Host: Clara Young
Producer: Robin Allison Davis

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Future of Work

Anindita MUKHERJEE