The Future of Work Commission
THE FUTURE OF WORK
COMMISSION
Grant ROBERTSON
Finance Spokesperson
The Labour Party has established a Future of Work Commission to investigate and devise policy responses to the changing nature and experience of work.
Digital technology is causing changes to work not seen since the industrial revolution. A recent American study estimated that 47% of jobs in the USA are facing high risk from new technologies. Those entering the workforce are likely to have multiple careers and jobs.
The ‘on-demand’ economy, tele-working, freelancing and contracting provide opportunities, but there are also big challenges to vulnerable workers through exploitative contracts, casualisation and insecure work and incomes.
The Future of Work Commission has the goals of developing policies which will tackle the changing nature of work to ensure:
• decent jobs
• lower unemployment
• higher wages
• greater security when in and out of work
• higher skilled, adaptable and resilient workers.
• It will undertake a two year programme to develop a comprehensive understanding of the changing nature of work and its impact on the economy, and to develop the policy responses to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by those changes.
The Commission is chaired by Labour Finance Spokesperson Grant Robertson and will be led by Labour MPs with responsibilities for areas such as ICT, economic development, small business, education, training, Māori development, labour and social development. An external reference group including representatives of business, workers and academics will help guide the work of the Commission, and there will be close collaboration with core stakeholders in each work stream.
Currently work is underway to finalise work streams, recruit authors for papers scoping the opportunities and challenges in each area, identifying the external reference group and the core stakeholders in business and the community.
Those interested in working with the Commission are invited to e-mail:
grant.robertson@parliament.govt.nz