Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 104 
 
 
Digitalisation and its impact on economy and work is a major topic in political and scientific discussions. 
Obviously the term ‘Digitalisation’ 271 covers such a broad array of technologies and developments that 
statements on their impact on society, economy and work can rarely be simple and straightforward. 272 
Digitalisation includes technical issues like 5G coverage, widespread connectivity, IoT  and big data, 
wearables, semiconductor capacities, edge and cloud computing, AI, data handling issues, for example, 
of medical records, mobile devices and online platforms, and it triggers economic and societal changes, 
for example, of business models, skills development, education and digital government.  
Digital transformation is globally supported by governments using financial, political and legal measures. 
The European Commission launched in February 2020 the European Digital Strategy 2020-2025. This 
strategy aims to promote a new generation of digital technologies. 
Concerning the overall impact of digitalisation on work, most researchers state a decrease of certain 
types of work and growth of others. Cedefop describes this as ‘the great divide’ and writes:  
‘Cedefop’s European skills and jobs (ESJ) survey reveals that more than 7 in 10 adult employees in the 
EU need at least some fundamental ICT level to be able to perform their jobs. Yet, about one in three 
of those employees are at risk of digital skill gaps. At the same time, almost half of all employees in low-
skilled occupations do not require ICT skills to do their work. Cedefop … notes that ‘the digital divide is 
alive and well. A strikingly high share of the EU adult workforce is still employed in a semi -analogue 
world, at the same time that others are faced with technological obsolescence.’273 
A statement of two researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shortly summarises this:  
‘Technologies such as payroll-processing and inventory-control software, factory automation, computer-
controlled machining centers,  and scheduling tools have replaced workers on the shop floor and in 
clerical tasks and rote information processing. By contrast, big data, analytics, and high- speed 
communications have enhanced the output of people with engineering, creative, and design s kills and 
made them more valuable. The net effect has been to decrease the demand for low -skilled information 
workers while increasing the demand for highly skilled ones.’ 274  
Digital technologies can enhance prevention at workplaces. They can help to separate workers 
from hazardous working situations, facilitate better and innovative ways of monitoring exposure, and 
might improve the quality of work by relieving workers from repetitive or routine tasks. Digital 
technologies may also create higher levels of autonomy and flexibility or facilitate the access of a more 
diverse workforce to the labour market, in particular vulnerable groups such as disabled people, ageing 
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