Labor Market Adjustments to Digitization and the Future of Work

Fourth International BIBB/IAB/ZEW Conference TASKS IV

The German Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) and the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) are pleased to invite you to attend the jointly organized fourth international TASKS conference. Automation and digitization technologies increasingly allow to perform job tasks that could previously only be done by humans. This development has triggered scientific and public debates on the future of work. The aim of this conference is to bring together economists and sociologists to discuss frontier research on labor market effects of automation and digitization.

Special focus lies on the following questions:

• How does the division of tasks between workers and machines develop?
• Which employment opportunities arise from new products and services?
• How do workplace environments change?
• How do workers adapt to changing skill demands?
• How can policy help to support workers that face difficulties in adjusting?

The scientific committee encourages theoretical, empirical, and policy oriented contributions from all areas of labor economics, labor sociology and related fields. Submissions may focus e.g. on:

• changing work environments
• changing skill demands
• occupational mobility
• trade and offshoring
• the role of institutions
• job polarization
• wage inequality
• education and training
• human-machine interaction
• unequal opportunities and chances
• measuring tasks