WORKING PAPER | ISSUE 16/2022 | 22 SEPTEMBER 2022RISKS TO JOB QUALITY FROM DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES: ARE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN EUROPE READY FOR THE CHALLENGE? JANINE BERG, FRANCIS GREEN, LAURA NURSKI AND DAVID SPENCERWe examine the job quality effects of new digital technologies in Europe, using the framework of seven job quality ‘domains’: pay, working time quality, prospects, skills and discretion, work intensity, social environment and physical environment. The theoretical effects from new technology are ambivalent for all domains. Data on robot shocks matched to the European Working Conditions Surveys for 2010 and 2015 is used to generate empirical estimates, which show significant aggregate negative effects in three domains, and a positive effect in one. Some negative effects are enhanced where there is below-median collective bargaining. In light of these analyses, and in order to think through the challenge of regulating the development and implementation of all forms of digital technologies, we review regulations in several European countries. Drawing on the principles of human-centred design, we advance the general hypothesis that worker participation is important for securing good job quality outcomes, at both the innovation and adoption stages. We also consider the application to the regulation of job quality of national and supra-national data protection legislation. In these ways, the paper extends the debate about the future of work beyond employment and pay, to a consideration of job quality more broadly.We are grateful to Milena Nikolova for her comments and help with this paper.All authors belong to the Excellence Network of stakeholders at Bruegel, through its project Future of Work and Inclusive Growth. Francis Green acknowledges funding support from the UK Research and Innovation, Grant ES/W005271/1. David Spencer acknowledges funding support from the UK Economic and Social Research Council, Grant ES/S012532/1.Janine Berg is a Senior Economist at the International Labour OrganisationFrancis Green is a Professor of Work and Education Economics, University College London Laura Nurski (laura.nurski@bruegel.org) is a Senior Fellow at BruegelDavid Spencer is a Professor of Economics and Political Economy at Leeds UniversityUniversity Recommended citation:Berg, J., F. Green, L. Nurski and D. Spencer (2022) ‘Risks to job quality from digital technologies: are industrial relations in Europe ready for the challenge? Working Paper 16/2022, BruegelWORKING PAPER|ISSUE 03|2020 1 1 Introduction Since before the first industrial revolution, social science has concerned itself with the relationship between new technologies and the transformation of work, with accompanying anxieties surrounding the volume and quality of work (Mokyr et al, 2015). More recently, the rise of computerisation, ICT and the internet in the late twentieth century have become the foundation i n the twenty-first century of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Digital automation is the main driving force, using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enhance prediction, and capitalising on the collection of ‘big data’ and the exponential growth of computing power ( Agrawal et al, 2019; Spencer and Slater, 2020). There has been substantive debate about the implications of the use of new digital technologies for current and future labour demand and wages. The character of digital technologies is seen as important in determining their employment effects (Acemoglu and Restrepo, 2019a, 2019b). Technology that is labour-saving will lead to higher unemployment in particular sectors and industries (the ‘displacement effect’) and lower wages; such adverse effects are part of a broader portfolio of societal risks, including greater inequality and impaired political discourse (Acemoglu, 2021). By contrast, t echnology that is labour-augmenting and productivity-enhancing (the ‘productivity effect’) will add to the number of tasks performed by workers and will stimulate new job creation (the ‘reinstatement effect’), thereby supporting an economy with high employment levels. Many and varied forecasts have been made of how technological change will in practice affect employment growth, wages and inequality (eg Frey and Osborne, 2013; Graetz and Michaels, 2018; Acemoglu and Restrepo, 2020; Arntz et al, 2016; Aksoy et al, 2021). Yet for all scenarios the response proposed in the dominant narrative – led by a broad range of consultants, thinktanks, scholars and international organisations – is that digital automation is best managed by the upskilling of workers (Schlogi and Prainsack, 2021). However, there has been little debate on, or study of, the effects of new technologies on non-wage aspects of job quality (Min et al, 2021; Nurski, 2021; Menon et al, 2019; Smids et al, 2020). Robots and AI might be expected to affect