Background
A call for social dialogue, collective bargaining and appropriate skills
National policies and social dialogue will play a key role when tools such as AI are implemented, and when the new tools and working methods are being tested and evaluated. Social dialogue is crucial when it comes to defining new skills and competence needs. AI is already significantly expanding the range of tasks that can be automated beyond just routine, non-cognitive tasks. Being a general-purpose technology, AI means that nearly every sector and occupation will be affected. The speed of development is unprecedented. Collective bargaining and social dialogue are means of supporting workers and businesses in these kinds of transitions. The lack of AI expertise among social partners, the lack of skills and competences regarding AI in general and the lack of legislation and national as well as international strategies are among the challenges.
Both the specialists, who develop the new technology, and all other users of new technology will have to develop their digital skills and knowledge. There is a need for both formal education and shorter courses as well as for soft skills (EU 2020). Cooperation skills, conscientiousness and the ability of learning to learn as well as to teach others at the workplace will be more important than ever. Informal learning connected to daily working tasks is necessary for both those developing new technology and for the users of new tools and new systems.
Skills needs
As concluded in OECD’s Employment outlook 2023: Artificial intelligence and the labour market, AI is likely to have a significant impact on the labour market (OECD 2023). The lack of appropriate skills is a major barrier to AI adoption. In the report, OECD refers to different types of skills (OECD 2023, p. 163: Table 5.1 Skill needs in the age of AI), as shown below:
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AI affecting tasks and working methods
The research report, The role of lifelong learning for inclusion in the digital transformation (Buhl, Dille et. Al. 2023), reflects upon the need for enough time (timely slowness) when implementing new ways of working, and the need to use a broad repertoire of strategies to navigate digital transitions. It is a key recommendation in this report to create awareness of contexts and to acknowledge the many different forms of knowledge from the workforce as legitimate.
The digital transformation affects all workers in the Nordic countries. Whatever sector or type of job, the digital transformation affects us all to various degrees. This transformation does not exist in a vacuum. Global megatrends such as the ageing of the population and the green transition influence the process of digitalisation. The increasing share of seniors in society leads to fast developments concerning home and health technology. The digital and the green transformation go side by side, often referred to as “the twin transitions”. The European Union calls for a learning revolution to meet the skills needs of our time (Cedefop 2022).
It is still unknown, where the digital transformation will lead us and what new kinds of jobs and tasks we will have in the Nordic labour market. What we can be sure of, though, is that skills and competence development are the answer (OECD 2019). The Nordic workforce will need both continuous formal, informal and non-formal learning. This would be a response to Buhl et al.’s recommendation of a broad repertoire of strategies (2023).
