New concepts of production and productivity

In advanced industrial sectors less qualified jobs are tending to disappear with fewer and more qualified jobs remaining. A 'new polarization' has developed with the losers of rationalization ending up unemployed. Within the car industry one finds that the most advanced jobs in the automated sectors are getting more qualified with no additional stress. Also, in the more manual sectors group work is now being introduced but often in a 'structurally conservative' form resulting in short job cycles and little autonomy. The climate in society is influenced by the unemployment that the new production concepts contribute to and may, in turn, influence whether structurally conservative or innovative solutions prevail.