Changing job requirements, competences for the future : an examination with current items which takes consequences into account

Abstract

"Catchphrases such as shifts and changes in work, removal of the boundaries of work, as well as globalisation, internationalisation and increasing information technology are supposed to be characteristic of the emerging dynamics of the labour markets that will speed up even more in the future. Here phases with changes between employment, further training and unemployment as well as changes of occupation, moves to different branches of industry etc. are just as characteristic of the current occupational biography and even more so of the future occupational biography as are do-it-yourself work and unpaid voluntary work. These developments which are generally described as 'natural' are rarely examined from the personal point of view, with the result that currently neither the requirements to be met nor the necessary qualifications are sufficiently transparent. It is assumed as something of a matter of course that the future so-called 'managers of their own labour' will always be flexible and mobile and will in some cases have seemingly absurdly excessive qualifications and competences including marketable personal characteristics. He or she is also expected to take personal responsibility for acquiring these qualities and to keep them available. It is probably not possible to assume that such changes have no consequences for the people affected. It is generally assumed that there would be better prospects in the changed 'world of living and working'. It should not be overlooked, however, that such developments can always also be associated with considerable risks and dangers arising from uncertainty, insecurity, excessive demands, loss of control, experience of threat, fear, stress etc. Estimating and taking into consideration in particular the risk factors could help to tackle problems regarding the 'change in work' with a closer look at the consequences and also orientated more towards intervention." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Plath, H. (2000): Arbeitsanforderungen im Wandel, Kompetenzen für die Zukunft. Eine folgenkritische Auseinandersetzung mit aktuellen Positionen. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 33, No. 4, p. 583-593.