Abstrakt
This book addresses the twin challenges of digital transformation by analysing the impact of new technologies at company level. It focuses in particular on the automotive industry which has been at the forefront of introducing new technologies such as industrial robots.
We analyse their impact on working conditions and employment as well as on the role of production sites in the value chain. The book also addresses the extent to which digital transformation represents an opportunity, or a challenge, for the countries that specialise in manufacturing production as far as their development prospects and competitiveness are concerned.
The research evidence in Monika Martišková's chapter suggests that new technologies are having an impact on working conditions in terms of changing job opportunities and in job requirements in Czechia, Hungary and Poland. However, we did not observe them having any displacement effect, either at company or at sectoral level, mostly because of labour shortages in the region and increases in production capacities in many companies.
Nevertheless, our research confirms the deskilling effect of the introduction of new technologies as regards manual workers. Further our research suggest that education and skill requirements are changing with respect to most positions, requiring a retraining of the existing workforce in the automotive industry in Czechia, Poland and Hungary.
At the same time, training policies were developed only in OEMs. Even there, however, a systematic approach aimed at developing skills for all workers whose skill profile was becoming obsolete was missing, while retraining policies were not on the agenda of CEE trade unions.