Project: Digging into Digital Work in Serbia: Who are crowdworkers from Serbia and why they work on global digital platforms?27Nov2022
Decent Work in the Digital Age
How does digitization change the sphere of work? How to respond to these changes and ensure decent work in the digital age? These are the main issues that were discussed during a one-day conference organized by the trade unions SSSS and Nezavisnost, within the regional initiative Danube @work. Although the Danube region consists of countries with different levels of development, the entire region has a common need - to establish fair and just living and working conditions for all.
Digitization is changing all social and economic areas of life and has a major impact on work and employment. On the one hand, it provides innovative services and increased productivity, as well as more choices for consumers. On the other hand, digitization is changing the labor market, and if these processes remain unregulated, they can lead to an increase in income inequalities, as well as limited access to social protection systems not only due to cutbacks from a decrease in contributions but also due to the often unstable nature of digital employment.
These consequences are already visible in the field of digital work. According to the results of Centre's first exploratory research on the socio-economic positions of digital workers from Serbia, this type of work may provide an opportunity for economic empowerment, but it simultaneously opens the issues of decent work legacies in the digital age. Branka Andjelkovic pointed out that it is crucial now to consider ways of regulating the digital realm of work, access to the social protection system and collective organizing, as this flexible form of work will only keep emerging in the near future.
Contributors to the conference discussion included also representatives of trade unions from Serbia, Austria, and Denmark, the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans' Affairs, and Social Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Employers Association of Serbia.