Tech-driven changes in job markets threaten social contract with workers: Experts

Changes to job markets driven by new technologies, accelerated further by the COVID-19 pandemic, are opening up workers to threats as well as opportunities, experts and industry leaders said on Thursday at a summit organised by WEF.

Panelists at the World Economic Forum’s Jobs Reset Summit 2020, being held online from October 20-23, also said the 21st-century employment model looks a lot like the 19th century, as gaps are becoming visible in the social protection systems and the pandemic has created extraordinary vulnerabilities for workers.

In the next five years, machines will displace an estimated 85 million jobs but create around 97 million new jobs across 15 industries and 26 economies, according to the WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2020.