Labour Market Challenges: Will There Be “Dystopian” Risks?

Abstract The current labour market is at a crossroads: on one hand, there are challenges triggered by technological pressures and perks, aiming at a greener, more sustainable and resilient economic growth, and on the other hand, there are the changes and tensions generated by the current institutional frameworks, that show delays in mitigating the apparent “de-socialising” of this market. The pandemic paradox of 2019-2021 has emphasized several vulnerabilities particularly of economic-institutional nature. Traditional theories seem unsatisfactory while unorthodox approaches are faced with hesitancy. The present paper intends to present a brief analysis of labour market’s challenges in the immediate future by proposing a mixed approach combining traditional statistical-data with a less employed institutional framework. The approach is substantiated and constructed by the structural and cognitive features that the new labour market would require. It suggests a possible way for considering the aims of the Green Deal, the vulnerabilities highlighted by the pandemic and by the recent conflict in the immediate proximity of the EU-27. All these developments bring about changes for several socio-economic categories, rendering most of them vulnerable. The split between “essential” and “non-essential” economic activities, platform work and the gig economy hint to increased relevance of the three types of intangible capital: human, social and intellectual. This will require an integrating perspective, if severe economic and social effects are to be avoided in the immediate future. The model we propose aims to show how, by taking account of the human, social and intellectual capital, better policies can be developed as regards labour market efficiency and efficacy.