Work and skills
Work and skills risk covers how automation, AI, climate and demographic change reshape tasks and occupations, and whether training and social protection let workers move rather than fall through.
- Institution
- The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI)
- Service level
- R0: information and enquiries
The short answer.
Work and skills as a field of risk covers how technology, automation and shocks change jobs and tasks, and how skill systems and labour institutions help people adapt. In the Nexus Consortium it is studied as science at GCRI by Advanced Industry and Robotics as well as Future of Work and Skills; this gateway links those platforms and the methods they share.
The field, seen three ways.
Governance and dialogue
No platform yet in this field.
Financial understanding
No platform yet in this field.
Task exposure is not job loss.
Exposure studies map which tasks a technology can perform; they do not predict which jobs disappear, because adoption depends on cost, regulation, organisation and complementary investment. The risk question is the speed and concentration of change by region and occupation relative to the capacity of training systems and labour markets to absorb it.
- Occupation and skills taxonomies to compare exposure across countries.
- Heat stress as a growing constraint on outdoor and industrial labour.
- Just-transition arrangements in carbon-intensive regions.
Classifications and standards.
| Framework or body | What it governs or supplies |
|---|---|
| ISCO-08 and ESCO | Occupation and skills classifications |
| ILOSTAT | Labour force statistics |
| ILO guidelines for a just transition | Policy framework for workers in transitioning sectors |
Labour and the rest.
- AI: task automation and augmentation.
- Industry: robotics and plant safety.
- Society: social protection.
The science sits on Future of Work and Skills; methods start from economics and econometrics.
The methods behind the field.
- Robotics and automation
- Materials science and chemistry
- Process and industrial safety engineering
- Systems engineering
- Optimization and operations research
- Sensors, IoT and observation networks
- Energy generation, storage and grid technology
- Water and environmental engineering
- Economics and development economics
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Social and behavioural science
- Econometrics
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Decent work | Productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and dignity, in ILO usage. |
| Reskilling | Learning new skills so that a worker can move into a different job or role. |
| Just transition | Greening the economy in a way that is fair and inclusive for workers and communities. |
| Social dialogue | Negotiation, consultation and information exchange between governments, employers and workers. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
Why does GCRI host field gateways?
Around GCRI.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.