Divisions of labour, technology and the transformation of work: worker to robot or self-employment and the gig economy?

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationships between work and firms in the context of city-region economies. The concern is to identify drivers of change as they apply to the experience of work. These drivers can be traced back to the emergence of capitalism, but their impacts alter as macro-economic processes are transformed. In 2017, labour markets experienced a particular moment of revolutionary transformation as mobile technologies, combined with developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, create new jobs, often forms of precarious employment, as well as transforming existing work. The application of mobile technologies to work has led to the emergence of the gig economy and gig jobs which are challenging existing forms of work while AI is destroying some jobs. The chapter explores the changing relationship between work and organisation as new ways of organising production emerge in response to process and technological innovations.