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Digitalization and the Measures Taken against Global Warming are Causing an Accelerated Sectoral, Skill-Related, and Regional Structural Change, which is Accompanied by Significant Changes for the Economy, Labor Market, and the (Continuing) Education System. The Economy and the World of Work Will Change Significantly in the Coming Years. In Addition, there is Demographic Change with the Growing Need to Secure Skilled Workers. This Requires a Higher Degree of Flexibility and Willingness to Adapt from both Companies and Employees.
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The German economy and labor market have successfully undergone such structural changes multiple times in the past. However, none of this is a given. Only with competitive companies can we help shape the change, maintain growth, and thus preserve prosperity and the high level of employment achieved, and ideally further expand it, even amidst the current structural change.
To this end, all actors in the labor market must live up to their responsibilities: The primary responsibility for shaping structural change lies with the companies and their employees themselves. Employers bear responsibility for their employees and, through their commitment to initial and continuing training, ensure the preservation of the skilled workforce base. As company partners, they work on practical solutions at the operational level; as collective bargaining partners, they create the appropriate framework for structural change in the respective industries through collective agreements. For employees, individual security in the labor market will primarily stem from flexibility, willingness to change and to pursue further training, and thus from a continuously updated employability.
The state's task is to support companies and employees in shaping structural change. This is best achieved by creating the right framework conditions for a sustainable and competitive economy. Where necessary, the state – and in certain cases also the unemployment insurance supported by employers and employees – should continue to actively support targeted further training through labor market policy instruments.
