Innovations contemporaines : contreperformances ou étape transitoire ?

The waves of contemporary innovations, linked to the third industrial revolution that corresponds to the digital age, raise an important concern. The traditional relationships between innovation, productivity and employment seem to be invalidated, especially in the United States, according to two observations. On the one hand, the growth of productivity gains is experiencing a slowdown, leading to a low economic growth. On the other hand, contemporary innovations do not create as many jobs as they have done after the first two industrial revolutions. More specifically, the employment crisis explains the jobless growth, and one explanation of this employment crisis is that digital technologies lead to a polarization of jobs: the activities requiring routine tasks substitute digital technologies to employment, while the activities involving non-routine tasks continue to need more jobs than they destroy. These observations obviously raise an important question: do contemporary innovations no more serve as the main drivers of economic growth and employment? Or are they simply the sign of a transitory phase, calling for new social transformations? This article argues in favor of the second alternative. It therefore has two objectives. First, it assesses the various arguments that underlie the above counterperformances. Second, it presents some interpretations and suggests the social opportunities offered by the development of digital technologies that are at the heart of contemporary innovations.