Commission Recommendation on means to address the impact of automation and digitalisation on the transport workforce

The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy sets out a roadmap for putting transport on track for a sustainable and smart future. One of the milestones on the path towards sustainable, smart and resilient mobility is having automated mobility deployed on a large scale by 2030. The strategy recognises that changes in the transport sector, in particular those involving automation and digitalisation, are creating many new challenges as well as opportunities for the workforce.

With its Recommendation adopted on 29 November 2023, the Commission raises awareness of these changes in the transport sector and invites relevant stakeholders, such as employers’ and workers’ organisations and national authorities, to consider and promote different means to ensure a just transition for transport workers, namely by:

• raising awareness of the impact of automation and digitalisation to prepare for a future involving both in a fair and just way;
• assessing skills needs and promoting training to ensure a good match between skills demand and supply in an automated and digitalised work environment;
• improving working conditions, and recognising the important role of social dialogue in managing change and fostering workplace innovation;
• managing change in a proactive and participatory manner; and
• making use of relevant funding opportunities to manage the transition, ensuring inclusiveness and accessibility for workers in all their diversity, in particular those at higher risk of exclusion.

The Recommendation addresses all those who can contribute to a just transition for transport workers: European and national transport stakeholders (such as employers, workers, education and training providers, sector associations, and the social partners, while respecting their autonomy), civil society organisations representing all groups of workers, in particular groups at higher risk of exclusion from the labour market, and policymakers and public authorities at national and regional level.

The Recommendation is also a contribution to the European Year of Skills, which is intended to help people develop the right skills for quality jobs, and help companies, in particular SMEs, address skills shortages.