• Regional demographics of working-age population are deepening: by 2050, the number of people of 20-64 years old will decrease (compared to 2015) by 49 million in Europe, by 22 million in Russia, by 20 million in Japan and by 195 million in China. Over the same period of time, in the United States the number of potentially active workers is expected to increase by 20 million, while in sub-Saharan Africa the working age population (ages 15-64) is projected to triple, to some 1.3 billion -- about the double of that of all high-income countries combined.
• The share of people above the age of 65 will increase significantly in all European countries. In the EU, if patterns of economic activity stay at current levels, the economic old age dependency ratio (the ratio between the inactive elderly (65+) and number of employed) is projected to rise from 43.1% in 2016 to 68.5% in 2070.
• The labour force participation rates among adults have been declining for the past 25 years (1993-2018) and ILO expects this trend to continue, as shown by 2023 forecasts.
• Although the gender gap in labour force participation has been narrowing over the past 25 years (1993-2018), women's global labour force participation rate is still 26.5% below that of men (49% for women, compared to 76% for men) (ILO). The gender gap is closing more rapidly in high-income countries, but continues to widen in emerging economies. ILO estimates that reducing the gender gap by 25% would increase global GDP by $5.8 trillion by 2025.
• The US attracts inventive talent and observes the highest immigration rate, followed by Australia and Canada. In the period 1995-2010 European countries lagged behind with France, Germany, and the UK seeing more inventors emigrating than immigrating.

• Older population keeps more active (by will or by necessity); over 50% of people 65+ in Germany, Sweden, and UK are earners through some independent work.

   

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• International trade can alter the composition of labour demand by increasing the demand for high-skill workers and by causing reallocation of employment from middle to top occupations, notes OECD.
• Trade with non-EU countries has led to the creation of millions of jobs in Europe. In 2017, the European Commission estimated that about 36 million jobs are linked to trade with non-EU countries. Being in the same single market has also led to more trade between EU countries.
• However, globalization might also be linked to some job losses. Nevertheless, the rate of job losses due to offshoring has decreased from 7% in the 2003-2007 period to 4% in the 2008-2010 period and continued to decline to under 3% in 2015-2016, notes the ERM annual report 2016.

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Technological change has had little effect on the aggregate number of jobs so far, but estimates suggest that AI-enabled machines may expand the scope and spectrum of future job automation.

• Work is increasingly more cognitively complex, more collaborative, more dependent on technological competence, more mobile and less dependent on geography
• In the 'Gig Economy', jobs are chosen on an ad hoc basis through online platforms, based on one's own interests, skills, and timeframe. The platforms could be classified into 4 groups taking into account distinction between the mode of delivery of service (physical vs. online) and customer (collective vs. individual):
  • physical delivery of service to individual customer
    (e.g., UBER, listminut', Pawshake)
  • online service delivery to individual customer
    (e.g., peopleperhour, freelancer, guru)
  • physical delivery of service to collective customers
    (e.g., appJobber, FieldAgent)
  • online service delivery to collective customers
    (e.g. prolific, Clickworker).
• The 'platform economy' is growing:
  • The increase in sharing economy will be driven by demographics: the emerging middle class, women and the elderly.
  • Online labour platforms have grown considerably in recent years and the number of people who tried platform work is increasing slowly but steadily in Europe.
  • In Europe, an estimated 11% of the adult population has ever used online platforms for providing some type of labour services; about 1.4% are main platform workers (work at least 20 hours a week on platforms and earn at least 50% of their income via online labour platforms).
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• The platform work introduces major transformations on the labour market: from hiring local staff to reaching remote workers, standard employment is increasingly supplemented or substituted by temporary work, from continuous/permanent employment towards project-based (casual), from single employer towards multiple concurrent clients.
• The platform workers are younger than offline workers; based on the Colleem survey the average age of offline workers was 42.6 in 2018, while the average age of platform was 33.9.
• The participation of male in the platform work is higher than female, but the profile of platform workers is becoming less male-dominated.
• There is a high economic insecurity of platform workers. In 2017, only six out of ten respondents were covered by health insurance, and only 35% had a pension or retirement plan, notes ILO.
• The State of California, USA, adopted legislation that gives many independent contractors (including gig-workers) employee status, with guaranteed minimum wage and benefits. The law will go into effect in 2020.
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• Non-standard forms of employment -- e.g., all forms of employment other than a full-time permanent contract -- have increased over the past few decades in both developed and developing countries, and their use become more widespread across economic sectors and occupations. However, for most workers, employment in non-standard forms is not voluntarily and is associated with insecurity, notes ILO.
• The work relationship is diversifying as workers hold several jobs and multiple income sources at the same time. In France, there are more than 4 million slashers -- 16% of the active population; for 77% of them, the second job being in a different sector than their primary job.
• Some 20%-30% of working-age population (some 162 million people) in Europe and the USA are engaged in some kind of independent work.
• Globally, the number of people in vulnerable forms of employment (e.g., self-employed) is rising. The estimated 1.4 billion people in vulnerable forms of employment in 2017 is estimated having increased by 17 million per year in 2018 and 2019. In developing and emerging economies the rates are above 76% and 46% respectively.
• More than 50% of independent workers in Europe are not covered by unemployment benefits.
• In the EU27 and the UK, the share of part-time employment in total employment (age group 15-64) went up from 15.6% in 2002 to 19.4% in 2017 while the share of temporary employment grew from 12.4% to 14.3% during the same period.  
• The proportion of the self-employed working part-time increased in the EU over the past years. The self-employed without employees experienced reduction in worktime, remarks ILO.
• New forms of employment --e.g., employee sharing, job sharing, interim management, casual work, ICT-based mobile work, voucher-based work, portfolio work, crowd employment, collaborative employment have become increasingly important in Europe since the year 2000 next to part-time and temporary employment.
• Women are more likely to be solopreneurs than men.
• Older population keeps active longer (by will or by necessity); over 50% of people 65+ in Germany, Sweden, and UK are earners through some independent work. 

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• The work/leisure meaning and balance are changing, driven by priority to self-fulfillment and an increasing entrepreneurial spirit, moving towards self-actualization economy.
• The meaning of 'the workplace' is changing. It does not relate only to a physical place where work is performed but also includes any space where the worker goes and performs his/her duties.
• The work relationship is diversifying as workers hold several jobs and multiple income sources at the same time.
• There is increasing argument that personal data should be treated as a form of labour and therefore, people should be paid for access to it.  
• Decent work deficits are widespread. In 2018, over 25% of workers in low- and middle-income countries were living in extreme or moderate poverty, notes ILO.
• New work patterns include:
  • decentralisation of work and questioning of hierarchical structures, with development of self-accountability and entrepreneurship;
  • work becomes less conventional, non-routine tasks outpacing routine tasks by 20% since 1960.
  • Project work, one example of non-routine activity, increased 40-fold over the past 20 years.

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