The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Workforce – a Chance or a Threat? Cover Image

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Workforce – a Chance or a Threat?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Workforce – a Chance or a Threat?

Author(s): Paulina Szterlik
Subject(s): Social development, Economic development, Human Resources in Economy, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Społeczna Akademia Nauk
Keywords: technological revolution; Industry 4.0; workforce; technological unemployment;

Summary/Abstract: The fourth industrial revolution is a concept, which changes the way that modern societies live and work. It can be considered a major paradigm shift, as it prioritizes the creation of smart and sustainable environment by developing and implementing new technological solutions. One of the goals of the initiative is to form a network of interconnected operations in order to optimize the internal and external processes of a company. The views of researches on the effects of the revolution on human labor are different, often extreme. On one hand it has been seen as a chance to create new jobs, which will support people willing to enhance their skills and competencies. On the other, however, the technological progress is connected with redundancy and job loss. The changes can be seen as cause of increase in the level of social anxiety and cause job insecurity. The identification of key areas for improvement is of significant importance, as new worker skills need to be acquired in order to adapt to complex economic circumstances. The aims of the article are: the identification of the major changes that technological improvements may cause in the working environment, the analysis of case studies in order to identify the challenges that modern companies have to face during the fourth industrial revolution and creating a profile of a candidate for a job in the field mostly affected by the changes, which is IT.

  • Issue Year: 19/2018
  • Issue No: 1.2
  • Page Range: 131-141
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English