Digitalization: Danish, Swedish, and German social partners compared

A study by Anna Ilsøe, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, focuses on work related digitalization, something that has intensified over recent years via ‘the automatization of work which erases or changes job functions and the creation of work without jobs via digital platforms.’ Via interviews with both employers’ bodies and trade unions in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, the study treats the question of both how the social partners define work related digitalization, and how they perceive its consequences as well as learning more as to how they are responding to this new phenomenon. The study also looks at some of the unilateral, bilateral and trilateral initiatives that have been undertaken in an attempt to position different forms of regulation on the labor market. The study focuses mostly on the private sector, as it is currently most under pressure from the drive towards automation and the trend towards work without employment.
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The study found that the social partners from the three countries (Denmark, Sweden, Germany) did agree on a definition for digitalization and on the important trends (automation and work without employment) however the German social partners also added the importance of taking the monitoring and control aspects of digitalization into account, whilst this was generally missing for Sweden and Denmark. Differences existed in how they treated the trends. Union representatives primarily address the

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