Increased levels of automation in the workforce are inevitable. However, one thing that isn’t certain is just how much these AI developments are going to impact job quality and availability for human workers. In Japan, the leading country for robots per 10,000 workers in the auto industry, the effects are muted due to low birth rates and fears of an impending labor shortage. Click here to read more. South Korea has laid out a new five-year plan to combat the growing economic inequality in the country. Namely, “it calls for sharply increasing the minimum wage and unemployment benefits and imposing bigger fines for unfair labor practices.” 
Similarly, France is working on its own major labor transition. Here, new president Emmanuel Macron is taking on the country’s “infamous, almost indecipherable labor code,” the Code du Travail. For many, the code is viewed as “the wellspring of the country’s malaise and the chief obstacle to generating jobs.” For others (the country’s unions), the code is revered. As for the United Kingdom, one analysis recently found that Brexit will cost the country more than 1.1 billion euro per year conservatively. The major factor will be the increased number of customs checks caused by the elimination of the free flow of goods between borders. Since 1993, when the European Single Market was established, these checks have been few and far between for goods travelling between the U.K. and EU. Lastly, despite Finland’s high unemployment rate (currently sitting at 8.9%), the construction industry cannot fill their rosters. Click here for more.
