Industrial Development: The Future of Skilled Work

Numerous authors reflect on the success story of industrial society also under the aspect of the crises it has overcome. For example, experts in industrial sociology research have interpreted the thesis of a progressive development of skilled labor (until the end of the 1970s) as a law inherent in the logic of capital utilization. Later, Kern and Schumann (Das Ende der Arbeitsteilung? Rationalisierung in der industriellen Produktion. Bestandsaufnahme, Trendbestimmung. München: Beck, 1984) came to a contrary assessment for the core workforces. For a long time, the VET debate was dominated by the dispute about the economic security of jobs and much less by the discussion about the quality and development opportunities of VET systems. This affects the future of skilled work, which is of central importance for innovations in the VET system. The concept of the open dynamic core occupations triggers a clear rapprochement between the actors of the VET systems. New forms of demographic participation—including companies—of the actors in the vocational training systems are emerging. In the discussion about the future of skilled work, it is becoming clear that the forms and contents of vocational education and training are not determined by economic and technological factors, but are also an independent factor in shaping company processes and the qualification of skilled workers. It is therefore important to sound out the scope for design and to develop scenarios about possible and desirable futures for the world of work. The future of skilled labor is therefore a political and vocational design task.