Portal on the New Society

Institutions & Organisations

This section is divided into three topics. Under State Agencies you can find a selection of institutions and organizations that are concerned with the present and future development of the labor markets around the world. The second topic is called Trade Unions and Employer's Organizations and contains a selection of links that lead to organizations, which provide information on working conditions and employee’s rights. Consultancy provides links to different organizations and companies that offer consulting and information about topics concerning the workplace.

19.04.2005 · Research Group on the Global Future

State Agencies

German Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology. German speakers can find a variety of papers on future technologies and their implementation. One document of special interest, "Innovation and jobs in the information society of the 21st century" can be downloaded via FTP.

The International Institute for Labor Studies is a good place to find articles and studies on the role of labor in different countries all over the world. Having an inclination towards trade unions, the ILO concentrates on the future forms of organized labor.

The EU is one of the most important producers of social research studies and policy recommendations. They also widely cover the area of the future of work and the advent of the information society. The following sites contain interesting material:
The EU Commission Information Society Technologies Program. The documentation of the conference "The Information Society for All: Nice Acropolis, 6-8 November 2000".

The EU Commission European Telework Development site, which hosts a huge resource database on the topic.

The EU Commission homepage on the information society.

The Federal Statistical Office Germany offers facts and figures relevant to the German labor market at a time where reducing the number of unemployed is urgent. The report’s focus is the development of employment and unemployment from 1990 to 2004. It not only stresses differences in the employment situation between Eastern and Western Germany but also among persons of differing ages and genders, for instance. Furthermore, the volume stresses the growing significance of the service sector and of part-time working.

The homepage of the American Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a lot of aggregated data via reports, tables, working papers and other publications. The whole site is well structured and very informative. Three reports might be especially interesting:

The 2002 report A century of change: the U.S. labor force, 1950–2050 documents the increase of national U.S. labor participation rates across a number of dimensions. These include the rising labor force participation rate for women, the changing age distribution of the population, the changing composition of the population by race and Hispanic origin, and other factors.

Working in the 21st Century portrays the U.S. workforce at the beginning of the New Millennium: a set of charts and related information about subjects ranging from education levels to retirement plans.
The "Report on the youth labor force", scrutinizing the type of jobs young Americans have between 12 and 17, and examining their relationship with college attendance and work experience between 18 and 30, with some astonishing results.

German speakers can find highly aggregate figures on aspects of work and the workforce at the homepage of the German Bundesanstalt für Arbeit. Its research unit is called the Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung. Their publications are freely available.

A comprehensive study about current and future trends and developments are accessible by downloading the agency’s annual reports. 

If you are interested in the perspective of Britain’s New Labor government, visit the page of their social exclusion unit. According to them, at the core of inclusion into society lies employment, being connected to all other aspects of exclusion and impoverishment.

Trade Unions and Employer's Organizations

The EXPO 2000 related web site of the German trade unions board lists the activities of the DGB (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund) during the Expo 2000. It presents the global house of the DGB at the EXPO, where issues like the future of work and global justice are dealt with.

A joint website of three German trade unions on telework. Provides thorough information on the topic, with focus on working conditions and employee’s rights. It also provides a discussion forum and a mailing list (English version, too) for people to exchange experiences with telework.

Another trade union site on telework dealing with its legal aspects as well as its embededness into information society, as well with a discussion board on the latter.

This site is focused on the different groups of teleworkers (freelancers, part-time workers etc). Under this link one can find a list of telework projects of companies in Germany, which try different forms of telework as well as academic research institutions on telework and documents of state agencies. You also get some figures on telework, a sector in which hitherto one million Germans work.

The Teleinstitute hosts an online journal and a forum concerned with telelearning and telework.

Call-Center-Forum is an independent board on call center work for employees and employers with a lot of information.

Here you find the site of the first interactive call center university. This U.S. based institution offers courses on how to become a call professional.

German online forum on the future of work, which is also obtainable in an English version. This site contains policy recommendations and discussion forums for the three topics "telework," "work in companies of the future" and "future of work." Interesting links, research papers and reports on new forms of work applied in companies can also be found here.

Site of the European trade union confederation. Contains positions and material for many work related policy fields.

Homepage of the international confederation of free trade unions. This is the global platform for labor rights, bringing together the leading trade unions from all over the world. The main concern is the definition of workers‘ rights in the global economy and the protection and enhancement of trade union rights all over the world.

Site of the American trade union board. Contains information and points of view on minimum wages, the rising income inequality, the working families where both parents have to work and the rights of part-time workers (youth and gender politics, too).

The AFL-CIO Internet community, with the aim to enhance workers power by giving space to self-connection and exchange.

The German board for industrial and trade companies. Issues policies on many topics and offers support for companies, e.g. on how to handle e-commerce. Their publications are not available online, but their short information letter containing useful information is for free.

Labornet, a U.S. based site, seeing itself as providing "global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement." Contains information about labor movements and trade union rights all over the world. Host’s forums on several labor topics, emphasizing the chain between labor rights and democracy. Lists U.S. strikes, discussion forums and U.S. articles about union action.

Protest and Corpwatch are campaigning sites against "McWorld.”

Attac is a NGO , that campaigns against economic globalization and its effects on working life and social structures.

Consultancy

Work&Life provides independent consultancy, like local support of single measures and whole projects concerning working life.
 
Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM):    
Its objective is to promote social and economic development, particularly within lower- income countries and for disadvantaged groups, by enhancing the capabilities of individuals and organizations through education, training, consultancy, research and policy analysis.

The Society for Human Resource Management is the leading voice of the HMR profession in North America with a global outlook. It provides information and exchange opportunities for the members of the profession. Everyone gets information about how the personnel in the new economy is perceived, steered and motivated by the HMR managers. The Site also offers many online-publications, polls and surveys.

Capita Learning & Development is the leading provider of UK training and development courses, event and learning solutions for all sizes of organization.

Gary Johnson’s Brave New Work World files news and information on many topics of the changing work place. Also, it is giving career advice and consulting. Here you find an article concerning skills.

This is the site of a private company offering consulting in areas of the information economy. Services are offered for policy-makers and companies.

A German consultancy that awards companies with certificates for offering equal opportunity rights, based on the view that equal opportunity and profit-maximization coincide. It issues a list of the awarded firms and cooperates on projects with the European Union and others.

A trade union connected consultancy with the aim to increase efficiency via enhancing the level of workers‘ skills, offering extensive policy consulting.

This U.K. based site provides an interactive forum on new ways of working. It publishes a journal on flexibility, covering different aspects of the topic. How individuals can adapt to the new requirements, what the state is doing and reports on the state of the art. The links list flexible work, telework, work from home and case studies from different U.K. counties.

The site of the consultancy of William Bridges, psychologist and consultant who wrote the book "Jobshift. How to prosper in a workplace without jobs" offers an archive of articles.