RECOMMENDATION 1314 (1997)1 on the new
technologies and employment
1.The new technologies are generally held responsible for major economic and social
changes taking place in our societies, in particular the negative consequences such as
unemployment. However, the dynamic relationships between technology and employment are
complex: the quality of employment has tended to improve but technology's quantitative
effect has been more uncertain.
2.Often these relationships are described as a form of "creative
destruction", which means that initially the introduction of a new technology may
lead to social and economic upheavals. The positive effects are felt only much later and
result from the dissemination and widespread use of several innovations linked to the new
technology. These knock-on effects are known as "technological clusters".
3.In reality, the effect on employment is only one of the numerous features of the new
technologies. Their mass introduction utterly transforms the organisation of production
and labour, the functioning of economic and financial institutions, the education system,
and so on. The success achieved by the introduction of a new technology therefore depends
to a large extent on the length of time needed for society to reorganise and adapt.
Periods of expansion and growth only follow once this new "techno-economic" or
"techno-social" model has been implemented.
4.Like steam, electricity and the automobile which have profoundly altered our
societies, a new revolution is now under way. This revolution is tied up with the history
of computers and, having radically transformed industrial life (robotics) and services
(computerised office equipment), it is now reaching fever pitch with the introduction of
new information and communication technologies (ict).
5.More than any other new technology being developed (biotechnologies, new materials,
and so on) ict have the potential to bring about a radical transformation by bypassing
space and time in disseminating information. In a world economy based on knowledge, it is
obvious that ict are particularly tailored to needs, which means that they are full of
promise. However, their effects are still few and far between.
6.As far as the putative effects of ict on employment are concerned, reactions vary
from optimistic euphoria to complete scepticism. Despite the often reassuring declarations
from the Commission of the European Union and oecd, at present, ict possibilities are
under-exploited and the multimedia industry, on which so many hopes are pinned, does not
seem to be a sufficiently strong source of growth.
7.It must be concluded that, regardless of their quantitative effects on employment in
the short and medium term, ict must also be appraised in respect of their qualitative
impact on tomorrow's working patterns. Although there is no doubt that the ict hold
promise of a rich harvest of attractive and interesting jobs for many Europeans, they may
also create exclusion among those who find it difficult to switch from working in a
"real" world to working in a "virtual" world.
8.The action to be taken by the authorities concerning the relationship between new
technologies and employment is doubly difficult: on the one hand, there is no simple
response, and the overall strategy must be multidimensional and include structural,
macro-economic, educational and other policies. On the other hand, a sensible balance must
be struck between a strong tradition of ethics and social solidarity, a feature of
European society, and the urgent need for the system to adapt itself. It should be
recognised that saving condemned jobs "at any cost" is only treating the symptom
and slowing down the process of creative destruction. A general principle, however, should
be to concentrate on developing technologies that create jobs rather than those that may
lead to job losses.
9.The authorities nevertheless have the possibility and the duty to act as a catalyst
in co-ordinating the introduction of new technologies and developing human resources. The
Assembly therefore asks the Committee of Ministers to invite the governments of the member
states to take inspiration from the following measures which, although not an exhaustive
list, represent the vital elements for integrating the new technologies and, in
particular, switching to an information society as smoothly as possible:
i.improve access to knowledge and its diffusion, strengthen the links between industry,
universities and research bodies;
ii.encourage the redirection of the whole education system in order to prepare the
younger generation for the new conditions and new methods for organising work (recycling,
half-time working, home working, flexitime working, and so on), for the greater importance
of services and the increased value of creative and non-repetitive activities, in
particular to strengthen education and training in science and technology in schools in
order to prepare the public better for the upheaval created by technological advances and
facilitate their occupational adaptation in the future;
iii.ensure that basic education bridges the gap between the sciences and humanities,
concentrates on abilities to learn and encourages a positive attitude to retraining for
alternative employment;
iv.adapt health infrastructures to the evolution of illnesses, such as stress, related
to the new technologies;
v.revise legislation relating to employment conditions and pay in order to take account
of the impact in particular of new information and communication technologies on working
conditions (the new cottage industries);
vi.greatly improve diagnostic tools in order to gauge the performance of research and
development nationally and create machinery to improve the evaluation of the current or
projected effects of new technologies; this forecasting exercise (technology watch) must
be carried out very early in the process in order to avoid mismatches between
technological development and the maintenance or improvement of social standards;
vii.start a Europe-wide dialogue to compare experiences and draw up an inventory of
"good practices" (of successful cases) of management and structural adaptation
concerning the impact of new technologies;
viii.implement incentives to encourage better organisational measures in businesses,
including their human resource strategy, and create the infrastructures needed to optimise
the application of ict and their beneficial side-effects for competitiveness and, by
extension, their potential spin-off for job creation;
ix.assist the innovative and job-creation capacity of small and medium-sized businesses
by facilitating their access to international innovation networks, in particular those
businesses whose technology has a high expansion potential;
x.take advantage of work relocation possibilities offered by new ict in their job
creation policies in disadvantaged areas, nationally and Europe-wide;
xi.encourage regional and local authorities to play a constructive role in installing
information highways, thereby influencing spatial planning and social and economic policy,
in particular by taking part in job-creation, professional mobility, electronic trading,
and, in so doing, generally mobilising the assets of their respective region or city;
xii.set up an appropriate framework for industrial dialogue and collective bargaining
adapted to the new working methods introduced by the new ict, taking special account of
the following factors:
a.social relationships must be remodelled to avoid dangers of exclusion or
fragmentation of the community as a result of the current developments; public authorities
must monitor this carefully;
b.the traditionally vertical pattern of professional sectors and branches, determining
social relations, but no longer corresponding to the new reality, must be reviewed and
rectified;
c.the new jobs and duties created by the ict, such as teleworking, working in virtual
teams, and so on, must be given a clear and stable status, and their effects on company
and family life must be studied.
10.The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers instruct the appropriate
intergovernmental steering committee to examine in depth whether the advent of the new ict
and the measures called for should not lead to a re-evaluation of working time.
__________
1.Assembly debate on 30 January 1997 (7th Sitting) (see Doc. 7713,
report by the Committee on Science and Technology, rapporteur: Mr Beaufays; and Doc. 7727,
opinion by the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Baroness Hooper).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 30 January 1997 (7th Sitting).
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