FROM THE ISSUE EDITOR

• Authors: Golinowska Stanisława
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

The thesis on gainful employment as a capital-equivalent development factor, the basic source of income for the population, the foundation of human identity, and even the meaning of one’s life, is increasingly being contested, both on axiological grounds as well as in terms of the intensification of new developmental trends. The accelerated dynamics concern economic processes, the development and implementation of new technologies and social changes. Therefore, in the debate on the importance of work we are dealing with different threads. The interest of the editorial office lies in three main threads, which will be discussed one by one. First of all – the trend towards jobless economic growth as well as the global scope of the labour market and its impact. Secondly – the changing nature of work in the face of changes in the structure of wealth creation, the decline in the production of industrial and agricultural goods, and the increased significance of various services, as well as the role of new tech-nologies and organizational progress in the process called “the replacement of living work by objec-tified work” in older literature. Thirdly – the decline in the share of gainful employment providing income to the population to meet their growing and ever changing needs. The response to these clear-cut trends is also varied. In the mainstream, there is a defence of employment and gainful employment in general. For this reason, employment growth is still a recognized and proclaimed goal of development strategy. The conditions for job creation and people’s employability are supported. It has also been proposed that work that has thus far been done in the family or in the larger community (e.g., caregiving) be paid for. Two factors still undermine this main-stream activity. One concerns changes in the nature and types of work, which is increasingly difficult to formalize (standardize), but is required by labour market operations to ensure that social order and fair remuneration are maintained. The simple criterion of quantity and quality of work as a basis for remuneration is more and more difficult to apply. The second factor concerns the replacement of work by new technologies, not only with regard to effort and organization of work, but also with regard to the fact that delivery of goods and services is being taken over by artificial intelligence and robots.Discussions and publications on the changes in the labour market and the nature of work, as well as the role of employment, have been repeatedly undertaken by economists and social politicians. The articles in this issue of the science journal “Polityka Społeczna” (“Social Policy”) refer to the publications of the Institute of Labour and Social Studies (IPiSS) from 1998 and 2004, developed for the successive anniversaries of the establishment of the Institute, when labour and employment changes were usually debated. For this reason, the invitation of the editorial office to write new articles was first extended mainly to the authors who had written texts at that time, such that they might revise the posi-tions they had stated at that time, but above all, to highlight new contexts and dilemmas. An invitation was also sent to younger authors, especially those who had undertaken research on new work dilemmas in the context of contemporary ways of life.It was quite a challenge to take up these topics in a journal with a limited number of pages and to attract authors who would be willing and incentivized (by getting points). It turned out, however, that in our milieu, care and deeper reflection on the fate of the world of labour dominates over other motivations. Owing to this, the editorial office of the “Polityka Społeczna” has managed to obtain the texts to be presented in the present and in the subsequent issue.We will start with the most general issues: the trend concerning the role of employment in fuelling economic growth (a paper by L. Kucharski and E. Kwiatkowski), followed by the role of globalization in development (a paper by W. Morawski). Then we will proceed to changes in the labour market and labour itself in the economy (a paper by M. Bednarski) and the consequences for the maintenance of the welfare state (a paper by S. Golinowska). The issue ends with a paper on the problems with labour division in the modern family (a paper by P. Michoń) with an indication of what this may imply for labour market changes.

• Publisher: Institute of Labor and Social Studies, Warsaw
• Journal: Polityka Społeczna
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 1(16) ENG FUTURE OF WORK
• Pages: 1

Contributors

author

Golinowska Stanisława

• Institute of Labour and Social Studies