SPbU experts explain what fabrica diffusa is: St Petersburg International Labour Forum

These are a few of the topics that were discussed at the discussion platform “Industry 4.0 and future of labour” at the International Labour Forum.

Irina Sizova, expert in sociology of labour and SPbU Professor, identified the key trends in transformation of labour market: digitization, gender issues, demography, and migration to name but a few.

What makes the current changes different is process acceleration. Primarily it reveals in pressure on the employers who needs to stay ahead in a competitive environment during globalization. Another phenomenon is post-industrial management when a company is a network flat organisaiton that is a completely client-oriented and quick in adopting new technologies.

Such type of the company, as the modern terminology has it, is generally referred to as fabrica diffusa that is spatially and temporally infinite.

SPbU Professor Irina Sizova

Educating and preparing students is very much about controversy today. In the nearest future, we will need a large number of specialists without qualification who are able to do routine tasks. Yet high operational risks suggest demand for expertise and teamwork.  

They also discussed how the universities could adapt to ever-changing labour market. The experts referred to the study by American sociologist Ronald Franklin Inglehart who says the spheres that will be in demand in the nearest 10-15 years will need only 8% of specialists from the working-age population in the USA. Some professions will be not in demand any more. Such situation is typical in most countries. The future specialists, as Professor of the Belorussian State University Larisa Titorenko says, need to acquire the innovation skills, and it can be done only through university-employer collaboration.