Discussion on the future of Switzerland's labour market

Digital transformation is changing the labour market. On the one hand, digital skills are becoming increasingly essential in everyday working life; on the other, digitalisation is changing the way employers look for new employees and employees find new jobs. It was against this background that 15 projects undertaken as part of NRP 77 investigated various phenomena in depth. Four projects were presented and discussed with real-world practitioners at the third NRP 77 dialogue event in Bern on 5 November. The event was organised by NRP 77 in conjunction with the presenting partner, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Boris Zürcher, Head of SECO's Labour Directorate, highlighted the fact that the Swiss labour market was running very smoothly. It has proven to be extremely stable in recent years. Even with the digital transformation, around 15% of the working population change job each year and unemployment remains at a stable low level. NRP 77's research also shows that although the digital transformation is definitely changing work and the way people find work, it is having very little impact on the labour market. The research undertaken by Marlis Buchmann shows that while the desired skills within existing professional profiles have shifted heavily towards digital competencies, new professional profiles have not necessarily emerged.

In fact, digitalisation has given recruiters the option of using new employees' skills as references, rather than their vocational diplomas or professional qualifications. Michael Siegenthaler investigated how people look for employment on job platforms and was able to prove that job seekers are largely unwilling to leave their professional field to take up a new job even if their skills would be suitable. Similar tendencies can also be observed among recruiting companies. Conny Wunsch examined how job seekers behave on employment platforms and conducted a survey among them as well. She found that there are differences between women and men in terms of their own estimation of their digital skills. This estimation influences which jobs they apply for.

The gig economy is often cited as a new phenomenon driven by the digital transformation of the labour market. The term is used to refer to the employment of individual workers on short-term contracts brokered by online platforms. This form of employment accounts for less than 1% of jobs in Switzerland. Caroline Straub investigated how gig workers feel about this type of platform work. She found that they experience high levels of job satisfaction and that people appreciate the freedoms and sense of purpose that go with this form of working. However, they find maintaining their own digital reputation, the lack of training opportunities and the uncertain career paths a challenge.

In the discussion of the research, Daniel Lampart from the Swiss Trade Union Federation SBG highlighted how important good research is for optimising the labour market. Platform work is not new in itself. The introduction of taxi dispatch offices in the 1950s resulted in self-employed taxi drivers becoming employees. In this sense, the question of whether Uber drivers are self-employed entrepreneurs or employees of the platform is a case of déjà vu. Jeannine Erb from the Swiss Employers' Association pointed out that digitalisation poses a particular challenge for vocational training, as the NRP 77 research projects made clear. The digital transformation thus requires greater flexibility and agility from all stakeholders.