The evolution of the duration of the workday is one of the determinants of the contribution of the work factor to the growth of the economy’s product. The proposal to reduce the workday without modifying the salary in a context of digitization of the economy, increased productivity, and the need to improve work-life balance has raised great interest in analysing the evolution that working hours in Spain have followed, as well as the prospects that, in the future, the moderately decreasing tendency that this variable has shown over the last four decades will continue.

The reduction in average² working hours in Spain between 1987 and 2023 (from 37 to 30.9 hours per week) reflects a set of structural changes in the economy during that period, such as the increasing importance of the services sector and the rise in part-time employment. The pandemic intensified the decrease in the average workday, although it subsequently recovered before resuming a trend of gradual decline. On average, workdays are now one hour less than before the pandemic, although there are differences between sectors. Looking ahead, factors such as demographic aging, the growing significance of services, and the tendency to increase the rate of part-time work suggest that the downward trend in working hours could be prolonged.

Automation is the process of replacing human work with machines and aims to make certain tasks in the workplace more efficient. This article reviews the effects of the link between automation and artificial intelligence (AI) on people’s work. In principle, the constant improvement of AI and its ever-wider use have favoured the automation of an increasing number of tasks, particularly non-routine tasks traditionally performed only by people. This has meant that many occupations, both low- and high-skilled, as well as many workers, are in danger of being replaced after losing the race with technology. However, a review of the effects, based on the level of skills, occupations, and workers, indicates that automation is still focused on replacing routine and low-skilled tasks and occupations. If automation and AI can boost productivity to the point where new and better jobs are created and if workers acquire the skills to interact with AI, a future of enhanced work, of agreement between people and machines, is also possible.

The analysis of previous industrial revolutions has shown that the consequences of technological innovations on employment depend on the degree of complementarity between new technologies and workers. So far, this complementarity has clearly benefited the most qualified workers (skill-biased technological change); however, in the current context, recent developments in generative artificial intelligence could change this situation. This article aims to briefly present the current state of affairs regarding this subject based on a bibliographic review of recent academic works. The main conclusion is that the available evidence on the effects of artificial intelligence on employment does not show any significant variation in relation to previous technological changes. However, if AI-based technologies continue to develop and adapt to new tasks, we can expect their effects to be much more disruptive than in the past, although it is too early to tell. In any case, it is essential that educational systems are flexible enough to cope with these changes and respond adequately to the new needs of the labour market.

The health emergency caused by COVID-19 has reopened, with particular vigour, the debate surrounding the impact of teleworking on working conditions, as well as on the possibilities it offers for conciliation. Given the high level of telework among women, it is necessary to reflect on the impact that the use of this mode of productive work may have on them and on other aspects of daily life. The extent of teleworking implies a threat to women in the sense that teleworking can have a particularly negative impact on women’s work, and this, in turn, would put at risk the progress made during the last few years in the area of gender equality. The regulation of telework is necessary to prevent it from turning into a trap that places the burden of conciliation on women.

Over the last decade, the business world has experienced abrupt changes due to the irruption of the platform economy. E-commerce giants and application-based business models have become key spaces in the economy, facilitating consumption in terms of convenience, immediacy, and availability. However, these new ways of organizing services, while easing the consumer experience, have controversial effects on the organization of work. This article provides a critical reflection on the newly emerging jobs in the platform economy sector. It will highlight the importance of the imaginary of consumption as a key enabler of these changes in employment.

This paper offers a description of the new forms of work, with special emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages that they involve for both employees and employers. From the perspective of Human Resources, these new models, and their coexistence with more traditional forms of employment, present challenges for the conventional management of functions such as planning, performance evaluation, or managing professional careers. Since the advantages that these new forms of work provide are evident, and their expansion is inevitable, all that remains is to minimize some implicit risks for both the employer and the employees.

On the occasion of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), the authors take the opportunity to reflect on the recent evolution of the labour market in Spain and its labour relations, as well as its future challenges. A period that begins with a long phase of expansion of the Spanish economy and ends with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the middle, events with a relevant economic and labour effect such as (i) the relocation that has accompanied globalization, (ii) the migratory movements that have rendered us a host country, (iii) the violent impact that the Great Recession that began in 2008 and the pandemic of 2020, as well as (iv) the process of technological and digital transformation in which we are immersed. Despite this, the article does not have a vocation for the past and stops in the analysis on two great challenges. Job quality, a challenge that has been present in the last twenty-five years and that, far from being resolved, has become more urgent. And the digitization of employment, the great test of the Spanish economy and society that may be a turning point in our employment structure.

In 2015, the UN General Assembly approved the 2030 Agenda. There was an agreement on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the purpose of which was to reverse development patterns around the planet. Cities, as population agglomerations and production centres, are directly challenged actors. The growth patterns followed in recent years show a clear explosion of the urban fabric, and an unprecedented land occupancy. So much so that certain degraded urban sectors are being abandoned to the detriment of new construction sectors located in the urban periphery. The connotations of this phenomenon are multiple, but it is important to focus on the unsustainability of an urban growth model based on urban development, land occupancy and transport infrastructures that have not been planned in coordination with these urban projects. Based on the foregoing, this article reflects on the externalities of this phenomenon, and raises some reflections to help transition towards a more sustainable city model.

In this article, we present a brief survey of employment via microtasks platforms. The main issues we review are the following: the economic rationale of these platforms; the estimation of the level of this type of employment; and the profile and working conditions of these workers. We close the article with a discussion of social challenges in this new type of employment.