Topic A: The Future of Work

Addressing the Economic Implications of Automation and AI

Background

Automation and artificial intelligence are transforming labour markets: they create new jobs and industries while displacing others, change skill demands, and affect wages and inequality. Governments, employers, and workers face choices about education, social protection, taxation, and regulation. International coordination is needed to manage cross-border impacts and set norms for responsible AI in the workplace.

Key Issues for Debate

Job displacement vs. creation: Net employment effects; which sectors and regions gain or lose; timing of transitions.
Skills and education: Lifelong learning, reskilling, STEM vs. soft skills, who pays (government, employers, individuals).
Social protection: Unemployment insurance, universal basic income (UBI), portable benefits for gig/platform workers.
Labour rights and monitoring: Algorithmic management, surveillance, collective bargaining in automated workplaces.
Taxation and redistribution: Robot/AI taxes, wealth taxes, funding retraining and safety nets.
Global inequality: Divergence between high- and low-income countries; brain drain; fair transition in developing economies.
Responsible AI at work: Transparency, bias, human-in-the-loop, accountability for automated decisions.

Key Statistics & Facts

~25%OECD: jobs at high risk of automation (approx.)

~85M / ~97MWEF 2020: jobs displaced vs. created by 2025 (est.)

50%McKinsey: workers may need reskilling by 2030

ILO C190Violence and harassment convention (relevant to platform work)

ILO Centenary Declaration (2019): focus on human-centred future of work, skills, and social protection.
EU AI Act: risk-based rules; high-risk uses (e.g. HR, recruitment) get stricter obligations.
Many countries have or are considering national AI strategies that include labour and skills.

Relevant UN / ILO Frameworks

ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (2019): Investing in people’s capabilities, institutions of work, and decent work.
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth; full and productive employment.
ILO Conventions: C122 (Employment Policy), C168 (Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment), C190 (Violence and Harassment).
Global Commission on the Future of Work (ILO, 2019): “Human-in-command” AI; universal lifelong learning; universal labour guarantee.

Sample Resolution Clauses (Topic A)

Preambulatory

Affirming that decent work and inclusive growth are essential to sustainable development,
Recognizing the potential of automation and artificial intelligence to displace workers in certain sectors while creating opportunities in others,
Recalling the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and its call for a human-centred approach,

Operative

1. Calls upon Member States to strengthen national employment and skills strategies that include reskilling and lifelong learning programmes targeted at workers in automation-exposed sectors;
2. Encourages the International Labour Organization to support States in implementing social protection floors and portable benefits for workers in non-standard and platform-based employment;
3. Recommends that States consider fiscal and regulatory measures, where appropriate, to share the gains from automation and support transitions, including through strengthened unemployment protection and active labour market policies;

Short Talking Points

“Automation is a tool; policy decides who benefits. We need rules that put people at the centre.”
“Reskilling must be universal and lifelong—funded by a mix of public and private investment.”
“Social protection should follow the worker, not the contract type.”
“International standards on AI at work can prevent a race to the bottom and protect dignity.”

Typical Bloc Positions (for negotiation)

Developed, high-automation: Focus on skills and R&D; often cautious on “robot taxes”; stress private-sector role.
Developing / labour-exporting: Stress financing for skills and social protection; technology transfer; avoiding widening global inequality.
Strong labour movements: Push for collective bargaining, transparency of algorithms, and just transition guarantees.

Country Focus: United States (ECOFIN)

This section distills your detailed Topic A brief into quick-reference strategy for a U.S. delegate in ECOFIN.

Strategic narrative

Framing line: “Automation and AI are a historic productivity revolution that demand coordinated global adaptation, not fear.”

Defend U.S. technological leadership and innovation ecosystems (Silicon Valley, IP rules).
Expand global markets for American AI and cloud services.
Resist proposals that effectively force technology transfers or weaken IP.
Support reskilling over protectionism—adapt workers instead of banning technology.

Bloc & Negotiation Map

Natural allies

UK, Germany, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland: pro-innovation, strong IP systems, advanced tech sectors.
Likely to back language on skills, innovation, and open digital trade.

Swing states

India, UAE, other emerging digital economies: want investment, skills, and infrastructure.
Offer pilot projects, training partnerships, and access to digital tools in exchange for support on moderate regulation.

Key opposition

China and close partners: may push for heavy global AI governance, redistribution, or mandated tech sharing.
Respond with language emphasizing innovation incentives, IP, and national policy space.

Three-Pillar Policy Framework (U.S. angle)

Pillar 1 – Workforce Transformation

Global AI Workforce Transition Initiative (GAWTI)

International fund and technical platform for reskilling workers in automation-exposed sectors.
Focus on digital skills, STEM, and life-long learning systems.
Implementation via ILO, World Bank, regional development banks.

Pillar 2 – Inclusive Innovation & SMEs

Promote SME access to cloud, AI tools, and training to avoid big-tech-only gains.
Encourage regulatory sandboxes so developing states can test automation without overregulating.

Pillar 3 – Fair & Responsible AI at Work

High-level principles: human oversight, transparency, non-discrimination, due process for automated workplace decisions.
Support voluntary reporting and best-practice sharing instead of a rigid global licensing regime.

Opening Speech & Rhetoric Kit

30–60 second opening skeleton (U.S.)

Hook: “We are not facing the end of work, but the beginning of a new kind of work.”
Problem: uneven job displacement, widening inequality, skills gaps.
Vision: “A future of work where every worker can transition into safer, higher-value jobs powered by AI.”
Plan: briefly outline the three pillars above (reskilling, SME support, responsible AI).

Useful one-liners

“Policy should move as fast as technology—not to slow it, but to steer it.”
“The cost of not reskilling is greater than the cost of reskilling.”
“We must protect both workers and the innovation that creates their future jobs.”

Extra Clause Ideas (U.S.-friendly)

Operative – Skills & funding

4. Invites international financial institutions and willing Member States to create a dedicated window for financing national reskilling strategies focused on digital and AI-related skills, with priority for workers in sectors at high risk of automation;
5. Encourages public–private partnerships between governments, educational institutions and technology companies to provide open online training modules on digital literacy, data skills and basic AI use for small and medium-sized enterprises;

Operative – Responsible AI at work

6. Recommends that Member States promote transparency and contestability of high-impact automated decisions in the workplace, including by ensuring that workers have access to information on how such systems affect hiring, promotion and dismissal;
7. Requests the relevant UN bodies and the ILO to collect and disseminate best practices on human-centred AI in the workplace, without prejudice to national approaches to innovation and intellectual property;