1 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:13,120 I'm pleased to know that our colleagues at MIT 2 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,790 are reaching out to people all over the world 3 00:00:15,790 --> 00:00:19,340 to engage them in this important discussion about the future 4 00:00:19,340 --> 00:00:20,240 of work. 5 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:23,230 We are launching our own future of work initiative 6 00:00:23,230 --> 00:00:24,610 here at the ILO. 7 00:00:24,610 --> 00:00:27,850 And this course will fit very well with our initiative. 8 00:00:27,850 --> 00:00:29,930 Look, I think that our future of work initiative 9 00:00:29,930 --> 00:00:32,259 responds to two essential things. 10 00:00:32,259 --> 00:00:33,820 One's got to do with need. 11 00:00:33,820 --> 00:00:35,830 One's got to do with opportunity. 12 00:00:35,830 --> 00:00:37,960 The need comes from the fact, and we're all 13 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,120 conscious of this in our everyday lives, 14 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,300 that there is massive change taking place 15 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:46,420 in the world of work, transformative change at a pace 16 00:00:46,420 --> 00:00:48,320 and at a depth that we don't really 17 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:50,200 have experience of in the past. 18 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,700 So we think that we need to study 19 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:57,010 these big changes to understand them better as a way of working 20 00:00:57,010 --> 00:01:01,080 out what we should do about them in order to make sure 21 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,570 that the world of work responds to the ILO's 22 00:01:03,570 --> 00:01:07,504 ideas of social justice fairness of work. 23 00:01:07,504 --> 00:01:08,920 And then there is the opportunity. 24 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:10,544 And the opportunity comes from the fact 25 00:01:10,544 --> 00:01:14,410 that in three years time, in 2019, the ILO 26 00:01:14,410 --> 00:01:17,840 will celebrate its 100th birthday, its centenary. 27 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:19,540 So what better opportunity-- 28 00:01:19,540 --> 00:01:21,910 they don't come round that frequently-- 29 00:01:21,910 --> 00:01:23,970 what better opportunity than that 30 00:01:23,970 --> 00:01:27,350 to have this in depth reflection about the direction 31 00:01:27,350 --> 00:01:31,160 that the world of work is taking and what we can do to shape it, 32 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:35,080 to move it, towards these ideals of social justice. 33 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,340 We are proposing to amend the states 34 00:01:38,340 --> 00:01:41,450 that they structure their national dialogues around four 35 00:01:41,450 --> 00:01:42,600 conversations. 36 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,810 And very quickly, one is to do with work and society. 37 00:01:46,810 --> 00:01:48,460 Sounds a bit philosophical, but I 38 00:01:48,460 --> 00:01:50,880 think there are some really deep questions out there 39 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,940 about what work means to each and every one of us 40 00:01:53,940 --> 00:01:56,580 in terms of, not only of earning our living, 41 00:01:56,580 --> 00:02:01,330 but also of self-realization, of what our lives mean, 42 00:02:01,330 --> 00:02:03,490 and how we want to proceed with them. 43 00:02:03,490 --> 00:02:06,170 Secondly, and it's a most frequently asked question 44 00:02:06,170 --> 00:02:08,039 that I at least get about the future 45 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:11,650 is decent work of tomorrow, the decent jobs of tomorrow. 46 00:02:11,650 --> 00:02:13,760 Where are those jobs coming from? 47 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,210 We're having to create 40 million jobs every year 48 00:02:17,210 --> 00:02:20,910 just to absorb the new people coming onto the labor markets. 49 00:02:20,910 --> 00:02:23,950 And frankly, we're not able to do it at the moment. 50 00:02:23,950 --> 00:02:28,570 So we have to be able to discuss the nature and the origin 51 00:02:28,570 --> 00:02:30,600 of work in the future. 52 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,070 The third item is about the organization, the organization 53 00:02:34,070 --> 00:02:35,440 of work in production. 54 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,490 We're seeing the digital economy take off. 55 00:02:38,490 --> 00:02:41,300 We're seeing the way that the internet is mediating 56 00:02:41,300 --> 00:02:43,860 work in entirely new ways. 57 00:02:43,860 --> 00:02:45,980 Maybe, the enterprise is going to look 58 00:02:45,980 --> 00:02:49,210 very different in the future from what it looks like today. 59 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:52,060 We're seeing the fragmentation and globalization 60 00:02:52,060 --> 00:02:55,690 of production systems in global supply chains. 61 00:02:55,690 --> 00:02:59,060 We need to understand what the full implications are 62 00:02:59,060 --> 00:03:03,417 of this new organization and global division of labor. 63 00:03:03,417 --> 00:03:05,750 And the fourth point-- and this is the culminating point 64 00:03:05,750 --> 00:03:07,570 of the whole thing. 65 00:03:07,570 --> 00:03:10,660 We have to say, well, what are the consequences 66 00:03:10,660 --> 00:03:15,490 of these changes for the ILO's mandate for social justice? 67 00:03:15,490 --> 00:03:19,260 How can we shape, manage all of these changes, 68 00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:22,930 so that we keep the world moving in this direction 69 00:03:22,930 --> 00:03:24,120 of social justice? 70 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,480 So let me end by encouraging everyone 71 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:30,480 to join us in using the ideas and the information presented 72 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,690 in this course to improve the future of work 73 00:03:33,690 --> 00:03:36,820 for people all around the world.