Digitalisierung industrieller Einfacharbeit: Entwicklungspfade und arbeitspolitische Konsequenzen

Topic of this paper is an employment segment referred to as “simple” industrial work. It is asked to what extent simple and low-skilled industrial work is affected by the increasing use of digital technologies. The often formulated theses in the current digitization discourse is that simple tasks and low-skilled routinized jobs will be sooner or later largely substituted by the new technologies. However, it will be shown in the paper that processes of progressive substitution of simple work by the use of digital technologies must by no means be expected. Rather, various developmental paths of simple industrial work can be identified, each of which indicates very different perspectives for this type of work. Methodically, the development paths of industrial simple work can be characterized as scenarios, e.g. general description of possible future trends. Thus, the present findings on the current situation of industrial simple work are projected into the future under the conditions of a progressive use of digital technologies. These scenarios or developmental paths have a hypothetical character and require a systematic empirical validation.