Project Approach
This project studies recent changes in skills and health requirements facing workers. Recent developments, such as technological change, organizational change, and globalization may change the composition of jobs in terms of skills and health requirments.
The focus of this project is on marginal workers, i.e. worker with low formal skills and/or with health challenges:
- Which of these underlying develpments work for, and which work against, the inclusion of marginal workers, and who are more vulnerable to change, workers with disabilities, weak health or workers with low skills?
For instance; while restructuring from globalization may affect workers with low skills and health challenges negatively, the robot revolution may change job requirements to the advantage of workers with certain health challenges positively.
At the same time, and partly as a response to the same underlying forces, institutional aspects of the labour market are changing. Non-typical labour contracts appear to be on the rise. Domestic outsourcing creates several layers of organisational units between the worker and the employer or principal, self-employed workers may do tasks that were previously undertaken by employed workers, and various forms of temporary contracts are employed to limit the contractual obligations of the employer.
On the one hand, these forms of contracts may be seen as promoting flexibility and innovation, and as providing stepping stones for marginal workers. On the other hand, they may stimulate segregation into a two-tier labour market:
- Who are impacted by the changes in contractual arrangements, and how is the sorting in and out of non-typical contracts for workers with low skills or health and disability challenges?
The project is also part of CORE – Centre for Research on Gender Equality at the Institute for Social Research.
Privacy Policy Guidance
This project utilizes personal data from individuals who are difficult to contact for the purpose of providing individual information. The data is processed for research purposes, and the legal basis for the processing is the public interest. The project involves the use of ordinary personal data and special categories of personal data, including data revealing health data, ethnic origin and trade union membership. The data is obtained from the following sources: Statistics Norway (SSB). In collaborative research projects, datasets may also be shared with external project participants and their affiliated institutions.
The legality and privacy implications of the personal data processing have been assessed prior to the commencement of the project, which adheres to ethical guidelines for research. The Institute for Social Research is the data controller for the project.
Individuals who can be identified in the dataset have rights and may lodge complaints regarding the processing. Please feel free to contact our Data Protection Officer, the project manager, or the Norwegian Institute for Social Research if you have any questions or require guidance.
Seminar
- Labor Demand in Crisis and Recovery. Covid 19: Research in the Wake of the Pandemic, digital seminar arranged by The Research Council of Norway, Mohn Foundation and Norwegian Cancer Society, 24. march 2021.