Transatlantic Expert Group on the Future of Work

Promoting the exchange of views and best practices in the area of the future of work that can feed current and future EU-US policy dialogue.

transatlantic expert group

Promoting the exchange of views and best practices in the are of the future of work that can feed current and future EU-US policy dialogue -2020-2022

Book:

Research output

Blog posts/Analysis

Podcasts

Events

Overview

 

The Transatlantic Expert Group on the Future of Work (TEG) is an interdisciplinary group of some thirty knowledgeable and highly qualified experts. It explores multiple emerging challenges in the area of the future of work by bringing together their respective perspectives from the European Union and the USA.

By means of dialogue, mutual learning and exchange of best practice among the experts, the group will develop policy findings and actionable recommendations in order to inform EU and US policymakers on challenges on which they will need to reflect in the coming years.

Regular group discussions are organised in 2021-2022, which inform various outputs over this period. The activities of the TEG will be closed with a public conference in November 2022.

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The TEG has been brought together by Bruegel and the  with the financial support of the European Union.

Objectives

  • To create a diverse group of expert stakeholders from both sides of the Atlantic
  • To foster dialogue & cooperation among the experts
  • To appreciate the EU’s views in the US and US’s views in the EU as regards labour, social protection, and the future of work
  • To reinvigorate the EU-US policy dialogue on work and social protection
  • To formulate practical findings through focused dialogue
  • To develop policy recommendations

Key questions

  • The impact of automation, digitalisation and robotisation on the amount of work required has been hotly debated in recent years. What are the likely range of outcomes? Has the pandemic changed or accelerated trends that were previously visible?
  • What are possible distributional effects of these changes by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and educational attainment? How will these changes affect economic (in)equality?
  • What interplay might be expected between globalisation-driven shifts in where work is done and digitalisation? To what extent has the pandemic accelerated a migration to remote work? Has it accelerated re-shoring of key industries and supply chains?
  • What are implications of these technological changes and shifts to non-traditional employment and self-employment, on key elements of social protection: pensions, health insurance, disability (invalidity) insurance, maternity/paternity benefits, and unemployment benefits? What measures might be considered to mitigate any concerns that are raised?
  • How can social protection best be funded in a world where the population of developed countries is aging, and the role of labour in producing economic value appears to be declining relative to that of capital?
  • Is there a need to rethink the design of current social protection systems given labour market change? If so, how should social protection systems be designed to better respond to labour market and demographic change?
  • What are implications of these changes for social partners? Union density has already been in decline in most developed countries. Will the shift to automation and remote / platform work, implying less contact among workers, compound these challenges?
  • The accelerating pace of technological change suggests the need for a modernisation of education and training, and a shift to lifelong learning. This need has been obvious for many years but has been slow in coming. What should be done to accelerate the process? Today, companies offer training mostly to workers who are already highly skilled. Countries with well-developed apprenticeship systems seem to benefit from them, but they may also impede entry into the respective professions. What can be done to make education and training more flexible, and more responsive to the rapidly evolving needs of the increasingly digital workplace?

Network-expert group

The Expert Group consists of 30 experts from the EU and the US. They range from civil society, academia, think tanks, labour and the business community.

The Transatlantic Expert Group is comprised of three working groups:

Working group 1: Technology as a driver of change in the future of work

  • , Marie SkÅ‚odowska-Curie Fellow and Assistant Professor, IE Law School, IE University, Madrid
  • , Science & Technology Policy Executive, IBM
  • , Director, Digital Technology and Innovation & Digital Trade, DIGITALEUROPE
  • , BOF-ZAP Research Professor, KU Leuven
  • , Europe Research Lead, Talent & Organization/ Human Potential, Accenture
  • Diane Mulcahy, Visiting fellow, Bruegel
  • , Marie SkÅ‚odowska-Curie Research Fellow, Sloan School of Management, MIT / Research Fellow, Bruegel
  • , Consulting Partner, Deloitte Germany
  • , Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States
  • , Director, Collaboration Superpowers
  • , PhD Candidate, Stanford University
  • , Technical Officer, International Labour Organization
  • , Chief of Policy Development, Ellis & Associate / Lecturer, MIT
  • , Professor of Law, Harry & Lillian Hastings Research Chair, University of California, Hastings

Working group 2: The inequality challenge and the role of education, skills training and social partners

  • , Senior Policy Analyst, Postsecondary education and workforce development, Center for Law and Social Policy
  • , Director, Social Affairs department, BusinessEurope
  • , President, National Federation of Polish NGOs (OFOP)/ Vice President, European Civic Forum/ former member, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
  • , Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
  • , Secretary General, Swedish Fintech Association/ Member, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) representing the National Youth Council of Sweden/ President, Maktsalongen, a Swedish NGO working for gender equality
  • , Deputy General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation
  • , former Vice President, Deputy Director, Policy Research and Evaluation Department, MDRC
  • , Professor of Innovation and Evolutionary Economics, University of Sussex/ Science Policy Research Unit & Professor of Applied Economics, Department of Economics and Finance, LUISS University
  • , Director of Work Structures, National Employment Law Project
  • , Director, Tárki Social Research Institute

Working group 3: The future of social protection policy

  • , Head, Social Policy Unit, Social Protection Department, International Labour Organization
  • , Adjunct Professor of Law, Co-Executive Director,  Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality (GCPI)
  • , Economist, RAND Corporation/ Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
  • , Professor of Public Policy, Hertie School
  • , McSilver Associate Professor in Poverty Studies, Silver and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, New York University
  • , Research Manager, research group Work, Organization and Social Dialogue, HIVA Research Institute for Work and Society, KU Leuven
  • , Deputy Director, Strategic Initiatives department, Service Employees International
  • , Policy and Project Coordinator, Social Services Europe
  • , Former (retired) Director of Social Services, Municipality of Trosa, Sweden
  • , Senior Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

TEG MANAGEMENT

Bruegel:

The German Marshall Fund of the United States:

  • , Program officer and fellow, GMF Cities
  • , Senior fellowtech & society

This website was created and maintained with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Bruegel and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

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