Digital Labour Markets in Central and Eastern European Countries COVID-19 and the Future of Work

This book examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changing labour markets and accelerating digitalisation of the workplace in Central and Eastern Europe. It provides an innovative and enriching take on the work experience from the pandemic times and discusses the challenges of ongoing changes in labour markets and workplaces in a way that is not covered by the extant literature. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalisation on labour market outcomes is analysed throughout 12 chapters, by 34 labour market experts from various CEE countries. Most chapters are based on empirical methods yet are presented in an easy-to-follow way to make the book also accessible for a non-scientific audience. The volume addresses the three key goals: to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the adoption of workplace digitalisation in the selected labour markets in CEE countries and the potential trade-offs facing those who do and do not have access to this benefit to complement the labour market research by incorporating the outputs of changing demand for skills to contribute new insight into policies and regulations that govern the future of work The book argues that the recent COVID-19 pandemic was a sombre reminder of the relevance and necessity of digital technology for a variety of sectors and market activities. It concludes that to downside the risks of vanishing jobs, as well as to minimise the threats and maximise the opportunities of digitalisation in CEE countries, labour market partners need to consider an effective governance tool in terms of inclusive access to the digital environment, re-skilling, and balanced regulations of the more problematic facets of digital work. The book will be of interest to postgraduate researchers and academics in the fields of labour economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics. Additionally, due to the broader policy implications of the topic, the book will appeal to policymakers and experts interested in labour economics. The Introduction, Chapters 4 and 12 of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

List of figures List of tables List of contributors Introduction Beata Wozniak-Jechorek and Kamilla Marchewka-Bartkowiak Part 1 New work experience from the COVID-19 pandemic time 1 Work from Home: Regional Digital Divide in EU Countries Beata Wozniak-Jechorek and Piotr Matuszak 2 The Corona-Inducted Shift Towards Intermediate Digital Skills Across Occupations in Slovakia Brian Fabo 3 Has COVID-19 Enhanced Labour Polarisation in Poland? Changes in Unmet Labour Demand Based on Online Job Offers Lukasz Arendt, Ewa Galecka-Burdziak, and Robert Pater 4 Posting of Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic in the European Union: The Case of Slovenia Elizabeta Zirnstein, Suzana Sedmak, Klemen Širok, and Suzana Laporšek 5 The Determinants of (Not)hiring Migrants in Poland: The Pandemic Perspective Olena Shelest-Szumilas and Marcin Wozniak 6 Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Labour Productivity and Business Activity in the Czech Republic Petr Suchánek, Tomáš Ondrácek, Ladislava Kuchynková, Pavla Marciánová, Petr Pirožek, and Peter Mikuš 7 Preserving Jobs in Covid-19 Times in CEE Countries: Social Partners’ Responses and Actions Vassil Kirov, Lucia Kovácová, Martin Guzi, Jan Czarzasty, Dragos Adascalitei, and Martin Kahanec Part 2: New challenges and policy needs for the post-pandemic digital work: learning from COVID-19' experiences 8 Naked at home. How Remote Work During COVID-19 Opens Doors for Omnipresence of Employers in Workers’ Life? Branka Andjelkovic, Tanja Jakobi, and Maja Kovac 9 Exploring the Right to Disconnect in European Labour Law and in the Legislation of the Member States: Just a Matter of Working Time of Employees? Olga Chesalina 10 Unconditional Basic Income as a Policy Tool in the Post-COVID Time Sven M. Gruner 11 The Assessment of the Labour Market Situation in the Digital World - Usefulness of Google Trends Data Slawomir Kuzmar and Bartosz Totleben 12 Individual Work Pricing by Non-fungible Personal Tokens ("NFT Gig Tokens") – a New Opportunity for Gig Workers Kamilla Marchewka-Bartkowiak, Michal Litwinski, and Karolina Nowak Index

Beata Wozniak-Jechorek is an Associate Professor at the Department of Macroeconomics and Development Research at the Institute of Economics at the Poznan University of Economics and Business (PUEB) in Poland. Kamilla Marchewka-Bartkowiak is an Associate Professor at the Department of Investments and Financial Markets at the Poznan University of Economics and Business (PUEB) in Poland.