This reader combines empirically grounded insights into how changes in work tools affect our work and how we react to it. It offers a hands-on approach to discovering the impacts digitalization might have on qualification and the labor market. Work tools can be used to link analytical perspectives to investigate the effects of digitalization on workplaces and employment, to understand the demand for specific competences within occupations, and also to arrive at a workspace-specific understanding of these changes.

Robert Helmrich is Head of the Division Qualifications, Occupational Integration and Employment at the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Germany. His research topics are: qualification development, occupational structures, new technologies and production processes, labour market forecasts. Michael Tiemann is research associate at Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Germany. His research topics are: effects of digitalisation on the labour market, knowledge in work, employment surveys.