Eurofound (the European Foundation for Improved Living and Working Conditions), an agency of the European Union, has launched the seventh survey on European Working Conditions. It will take place in an environment that will be much different to the one when the sixth survey was held in 2015.

The data of the sixth survey on European Working Conditions has been published and provides much food for thought. The data was used to develop indices that measure various elements of job quality, such as the physical environment, work intensity, working time quality, the social environment, learning and training opportunities on the job, prospects for career advancement and earnings.

I will only make reference to a few aspects of the report, those that provide a flavour of what to expect in the future. The full report is available on the Eurofound website.

The top four occupations in the 28 EU member states are professionals, service and sales workers, technicians and craft workers. This is a very strong indication of the move towards a knowledge-based economy. Even those that have a managerial role are more likely to identify themselves with their profession or their technical expertise and not so much with their role in the hierarchy of the organisation they work with.

In terms of economic sectors, the top five largest economic sectors are commerce and hospitality (19 per cent), other services, industry, health and education. However, while the role of industry is shrinking, the role of the other four sectors is expanding over time. This again indicates a trend in favour of a more knowledge-based European economy. Confirming this trend is the fact that the proportion of workers with a tertiary level of education in the EU is rising while the proportion of those with a primary or lower secondary level of education is decreasing.

I believe we still have to develop appropriate policies on how to address the gender pay gap

Another aspect is the gender issue. The existence of a gender pay gap across Europe is known and I believe we still have to develop appropriate policies on how to address it. However, it is interesting to note the gender bias in the various occupations. Whereas across the whole of the EU, two thirds of those categorised as managers are men, among those categorised as professionals, 52 per cent are women. And to confirm stereotypes, two thirds of those who are categorised as clerks are women.

One point to highlight is that among younger workers, the proportion of women having tertiary education is higher than the proportion of men.

We need to appreciate that work has three main dimensions. It is an economic factor of production, whereby we produce goods and services and our value depends on the value of what is produced. Focusing just on this would reduce the human person simply to an economic agent, devoid of the one’s social and cultural dimension.

So we need the second dimension of work, which is an instrument through which the human person grows, develops and achieves self-fulfilment. In this case working conditions play an essential part. These two dimensions ignore the fact that work is part of a society’s fabric, and as such we need the third dimension.

The third dimension of work is that it enables governments to redistribute incomes (achieving a more cohesive society) and safeguards the rights of individuals. However, changes in society and, more importantly, technological change, are leading to significant changes in the world of work, which are testing the validity of the three dimensions I have mentioned.

Malta is not exempt from all this. If anything, the impact on Malta will be all that greater because of the very strong employment growth of the past years. Many are having to trade between job security and income; between stability and flexibility in one’s role; between teamwork and individualisation of one’s job.

In this context enhancing one’s skills to meet tomorrow’s (not yesterday’s or today’s) challenges is a critical requirement. The extent to which we are prepared for this depends greatly on oneself. However, it should be supported by a healthy and open national debate, as the current positive economic environment risks inducing us to take matters for granted and sit back and enjoy the present.

Working conditions in the future are likely to be markedly different to those we are used to today, and the future does not wait for anyone.