This working paper aims to deepen the understanding of the new factors associated with the risk of underemployment, unemployment and inactivity, while at the same time investigating the new dimensions of labour market vulnerability. The first part of the paper provides a descriptive analysis of historical vulnerabilities, plotting trends in labour force participation, underemployment, and labour market slack from 2006 to 2023. The second part of the paper examines the potential future vulnerability due to “low digital adaptability,” identifying a high-risk group of workers in high-AI-exposure jobs who currently use few digital skills.
The paper is structured as follows. The first section outlines our methodology for identifying vulnerable groups in the labour market between 2006 and 2023. We first define our measures of weak labour market attachment and the risk factors examined in the analysis. We then present the descriptive findings and discuss their implications. The second section follows the same structure, focusing on the future of work. Section three discusses the main findings and concludes.
Authors: Iga Magda, Mateusz Krząkała