Dialogues on the Future of Work in the Global South: Building narratives from the Middle East and North Africa

Why a Global South perspective on the Future of Work

Artificial Intelligence and other advanced ICTs are dramatically changing the way we produce, consume, and trade. What threats, challenges, and opportunities does this new industrial revolution pose for the world of work?  

At a global level, a narrative aiming to answer this question is gaining attention in academic and policy circles. According to this view, technology has started and will continue to enable the automation of routine-based jobs but will, at the same time, create new job opportunities where workers use skills that complement the power of these technologies. If history is any guide, workers’ skills and institutions would adapt to the new conditions, fuelling economic growth and net job creation.  

The history of technological innovation and jobs in the Global South tells a different, more complex story; one that may include lags in technology adoption, failures in skills development systems, precarious working conditions, and relative economic stagnation. The challenge, then, is to detect the structural factors that matter for the future of work in the Global South and assess whether these factors add diversity and context to the prevailing narrative. This assessment can help shape policy frameworks for the future of work with a genuine Global South perspective.   

About the dialogues

Over the last decade, the Global South has produced much research and data about the future of work. However, this knowledge is still fragmented and not easily accessible for policymakers and public opinion. It is time to take stock of existing research, systematize it and shape it into narratives that can feed proper policy frameworks for Global South governments.   This is what the dialogues are about. We are inviting researchers to share their knowledge and expertise, with a special focus on detecting the global narrative elements that need to be reconsidered when turning the attention to the Global South. 

The workshop is organized around five topics – the “building blocks” of a narrative about the future of work:

• Technological change, which is already taking place in the Global North but should not be taken for granted in the Global South.
• 21st skills, which can be attained through curricular reform in the Global North but require structural changes in skills development systems in the Global South. 
• New forms of work (i.e., digital platform-based jobs), which might impact differently in a context of formal work arrangements –as those prevalent in the Global North- than in informal settings –as those frequent in the Global South. 
• Demography, as countries are going through different stages of the demographic transition, and the Global North is “older” than the Global South.   
• Inequality, which is increasing in the Global North due to technological change and globalization but is structural -embedded in institutions and policies- in the Global South.   

Dialogues on the Future of Work in the Global South: Building narratives from the Middle East and North Africa – An initiative by FoWiGS , AERC, ERF, Just Jobs Network, Red Sur & CIPPEC