The Fourth Industrial Revolution is challenging business models and labour markets. Technological convergence shows an employment crisis that actually involves a revolution of work.

By Martin Padulla for staffingamericalatina

On numerous occasions we have stated that we are attending a historical moment: the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The way we live, relate, and work are changing, which means we are going through a real change of era.

If we look back into history, we can observe that every revolution ended up including more people in the labour market. However, these people could be included once they displayed skills quite different from the ones previously required, and under different labour modes.

Are we attending a different period of time? Are the violent reactions of cab drivers against Uber any different from the Luddite movement of the 19^th century? What is the real change?

Clearly, we are facing a crisis of employment as we knew during the entire 20st century. The typical 9 to 5 work is in crisis in the entire world. Work has stopped being a place to go to, and became a task to perform. Organizations and workers demand diversity, options, more flexibility, and a greater level of mutual adaptation. Technology will replace many jobs, as it has been doing for decades, but at faster pace. Back in 1930, John Maynard Keynes talked about technological unemployment. Many of the jobs that some people state are threatened do actually have a death certificate signed a long time ago.

A combination of phenomenon have led to a major controversy around the concept of representativeness. Politicians, union leaders, and business representatives have been involved in old fashioned debates, which have nothing to do with what is really happening among those who actually lead an organization or those who aim at developing a professional career while achieving work-life balance.

Clearly, the other side of the story shows a revolution of work. Disruptive technology based organizations growing at exponential rates, creating plenty of work, connecting supply and demand through platforms. The green economy is growing and demanding new skills; the orange economy drives sectors that did not exist until recently, the blue economy demands more and better human capital, and the silver economy is developing and industry based on aging population. The employment crisis might show a black scenery, but the revolution of work fills reality with many colours.

We must think in colours and we must think fast. Our labour markets were conceived in black and white. They have favoured the left hemisphere when thinking about the concept of work, which was fit for the first half of the 20st century. But the 21^st century seems to be an explosion of the right hemisphere, based on disruptive organizations, which are the ones that are creating more employment, and that need completely different rules. Organizations created by exponential thinking, creativity, imagination and divergence.

Given this change of time, we can assume four kinds of attitudes. Three of them will show us the face of employment crisis: passivity, preactivity, and reactivity. Only one of them shall be functional to the revolution of work: proactivity, which implies taking the leading role in the future of work.

The jobs of the future are been distributed in the entire world, and they will go where they find modern, dynamic, formal and inclusive labour markets, with a proper business environment.

These labour markets have:

• Diversity of labour contracts, which promote formality and inclusion. Capacity to regulate new forms of work that still have not been implemented, preserving the concept of flexicurity.
• Within such diversity, a fluent contract system for apprenticeships to connect education and work in a practical way.
• Active employment policies. Public and private employment systems working together to train people in skills based on the demand, and to lower the barrier of entrance to the labour market.
• A modern pensions’ system that acknowledges aging population.
• A system of individual, portable and transferable benefits that enable workers to learn to unlearn in order to relearn, developing their professional career under different forms of formal labour.
• Basic universal income under the format that better fits the local culture, linked to mandatory vocational training for the most vulnerable.
• Promotion of entrepreneurship. Real actions that enable formal startups and encourage those who are brave enough to start their own business and provide employment opportunities for other citizens. The State must be an enabler, and, under no circumstances a bureaucracy to defeat or a partner that does not add value. Modern rules of the game must be granted, and they must not be force to adapt to the old way of doing things.

We must start thinking in colours, act quickly, and become key players in the revolution of work in Latin America. This is the only revolution that will bring us inclusive and sustainable development.

About Martin Padulla

Founder and Managing Director of staffingamericalatina. Martin Padulla is Sociologist (USAL), MBA (UCA) and labour markets expert. He published “Flexible Work in South America” and “Regulatory framework for private employment agencies in Latin America” two books about the new realities of work in Latin America.

Follow Martín Padulla on Twitter: @MartinPadulla

mpadulla@staffingamericalatina.com

About staffingamericalatina

It is the unique independent digital media specialized in Latin American´s labour markets.

Produce and spread contents, researches and developments about issues such us Employability, Youth Employment, Training for Employment, Decent Work, Private Employment Agencies, Active policies for employment, Teleworking, Public and private actions for the creation of decent work, Green Jobs and Corporate Social Responsibility.

It is the meeting point for companies, providers, candidates, service´s companies, academics and independent professionals of Latin America.

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