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    <title>EconStor Collection:</title>
    <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299621</link>
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    <pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2026 19:52:27 GMT</pubDate>
    <dc:date>2026-05-09T19:52:27Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Artificial intelligence in Industry 4.0: Implications for occupational safety and health</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/300311</link>
      <description>Title: Artificial intelligence in Industry 4.0: Implications for occupational safety and health
Authors: Bérastégui, Pierre
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) has long been hailed as a transformative force set to revolutionise various aspects of our lives, including the way we work. Advances in complementary fields such as big data, cloud computing and the internet of-things have seen the emergence of new ways of organising the means of production. Behind these new ecosystems, often referred to using '4.0' terms, lies a complex web of intricate technologies, bringing with it a unique set of risks and challenges. This working paper analyses the role of AI in the context of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), with a specific focus on occupational safety and health (OSH) implications. Section 1 situates AI within the framework of I4.0 and provides a brief overview of application-pull and technology-push factors inducing a need for changes. Section 2 delves into ways in which an AI system may unexpectedly fail and discusses trends in AI accidents based on available data. Section 3 explains how the growing convergence of information and operational technology make organisations more vulnerable to cyber-physical attacks, ultimately putting workers' safety at risk. Section 4 provides a critical assessment of the various principles put forward to ensure proper human oversight. Section 5 discusses how the implementation of AI systems may influence workers' autonomy and, in this way, compromise workers' safety and health. Finally, Section 6 describes the poor working conditions of data workers behind AI systems.</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <dc:date>2024-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Short and medium-term sectoral employment: Forecasting the future development of remote work</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299869</link>
      <description>Title: Short and medium-term sectoral employment: Forecasting the future development of remote work
Authors: Alexandri, Eva; Barbieri, Luca; Seymour, Daniel; Suta, Cornelia-Madalina; Thoung, Chris
Abstract: This report provides new projections, to 2026, of remote work rates and the accompanying macroeconomic implications for the EU27, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Republic of North Macedonia, Turkey and the UK. Remote work covers a range of practices but few are straightforward to quantify consistently. The definition of remote work used in this report is working from home (WFH), matching the Eurostat Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) definition. The literature review identified a range of drivers (e.g. sectoral composition of the economy) and potential outcomes (e.g. changes in expenditures on information and communications technologies (ICT)). Using a conceptual framework developed from the literature review, we modelled a baseline projection and three alternative scenarios: one that projected lower rates of WFH by 2026 compared to the baseline (Unwinding of WFH); and two that projected higher rates of WFH (Acceleration of WFH and Acceleration of WFH with contract changes). By 2026, the baseline projects that 18% of workers in the EU27, and 19.6% of workers in all 33 study countries, will be working from home. There is substantial variation in these rates by individual country, from a 2026 rate of 42% in Luxembourg to 1% in Bulgaria and Romania. Compared to the baseline, the Unwinding of WFH scenario projects nearly 350 000 fewer total workers and more than 10 million fewer WFH workers by 2026, with the reduction concentrated mostly in services. The Acceleration of WFH scenario projects more than 830 000 additional workers in total and more than 24 million more WFH workers by 2026, employed mostly in service sectors. The Acceleration of WFH with contract changes scenario projects nearly one million more total workers and more than 24 million more WFH workers by 2026. In this scenario, workers are assumed to shift from permanent to self-employed contract positions, leading to a projected increase in the rate of self-employment of 3.7 percentage points compared to the baseline. An unwinding of WFH in Europe would generate modest increases in costs for firms, mild decreases in total employment for workers and small aggregate output reductions. An acceleration of WFH, coupled with an increase in digital development in Europe, would provide benefits in terms of cost savings to firms, higher employment and higher output. However, there is a risk that higher levels of WFH could lead to contract changes that, while providing benefits to firms, could undermine workers' power, pay and benefits. This has not been explicitly modelled in these projections but warrants deeper consideration.</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
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      <dc:date>2023-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Health inequalities related to psychosocial working conditions in Europe</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299873</link>
      <description>Title: Health inequalities related to psychosocial working conditions in Europe
Authors: Backhaus, Insa; Gero, Krisztina; Dragano, Nico; Bambra, Clare
Abstract: This report presents results on psychosocial working conditions and health inequalities using data from the 2010 and 2015 European Working Conditions Surveys and the second wave of the 2020 Living, Working and Covid-19 survey. In brief, mean WHO-5 mental health scores declined between 2010 and 2020, indicating an increase in symptoms of depression during the pandemic. Regarding psychosocial working conditions, we found that the prevalence of job insecurity was slightly lower in the 2020 survey compared with 2010, while the prevalence of temporary contracts increased during the same period. We also found that the percentage of employees feeling that they do not have enough time to get their work done, working in their free time, worrying about work outside of working hours and experiencing work-life conflicts increased over time. Comparisons over time must be interpreted with caution, however, because of the different sampling methods of the studies included here. Educational level appears to be a prominent factor associated with intersectional inequalities in mental health at work, both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Across psychosocial working conditions, primarily young women (18-35 years of age) with a primary education presented worse mental health outcomes than their male counterparts or employees with a higher level of education, in general.</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299873</guid>
      <dc:date>2023-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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      <title>Regulating for a sustainable and resilient single market: Challenges and reforms in the areas of state aid, competition, and public procurement law</title>
      <link>https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299866</link>
      <description>Title: Regulating for a sustainable and resilient single market: Challenges and reforms in the areas of state aid, competition, and public procurement law
Authors: Andhov, Marta; Biondi, Andrea; Rubini, Luca
Abstract: The single market currently sits at the centre of the European economic integration project and plays a key role in the EU processes of political and social integration.This centrality would have been purely totemic had it not been for the inherent success and resilience of the European integration project. Over the past 30 years, the single market has survived several crises largely unscathed: economic ones (including various recessions and austerity-driven downturns), political ones (Brexit comes immediately to mind) and, more recently, a pandemic and a violent armed conflict virtually on its doorstep. While undoubtedly still a 'project', and far from being fully accomplished let alone finalised, the single market has consolidated its role as the central Weltanschauung of the European Union. For the most part, the picture that the authors, law professors Marta Andhov, Andrea Biondi and Luca Rubini, have painted for us is one of progressive incrementalism in the EU's efforts to bolster the contribution that the single market rules covered by their analysis make to the ecological, social and industrial sustainability dimensions of the European project. Readers of this report, and of the three papers produced by our experts, will undoubtedly feel enriched by the sophisticated and detailed analysis of the - often untapped - potential offered by these recent, ongoing reforms. Reforms that, as the authors point out, are carefully balancing both the social and the competitiveness rationales sustaining the Treaty formula for a 'highly competitive social market economy'.</description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299866</guid>
      <dc:date>2023-01-01T00:00:00Z</dc:date>
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