Transport and employment

The global economy refers to the increasing integration of fragmented national markets for goods and services into a single global market. In such a market, companies may source from one country, conduct research and development in another country, take orders in a third country, and sell wherever there exists demand regardless of the customer's nationality. Certain influences have caused the globe to become smaller and smaller. These include technological advances in global communication and transportation.

Of all infrastructure sectors, the products and markets of the transport industry are most varied. There are several distinct transport products: road transport, air transport, rail transport, mass rapid transport and many kinds of informal transport. They serve different passenger and freight transport needs and in different ways. They are often combined by customers themselves or by specialist brokers (such as travel agents and freight forwarders) to produce a single door-to-door passenger trip or freight movement.

The transport services sector in the European Union is an important industry in its own right. In 2004, the sector employed 8.2 million people in the EU member states. Over the years, the amount of employment per unit of transport has steadily declined. This is mainly because of technological change, gradually more relaxed work rules and smaller sizes of crews in aviation and railways. An increase in the number of hours of active duty has also played a role, as in the case of long-distance road freight, despite national and international efforts to curb this trend. There has been a drive for increased flexibility in occupational functions (multi-skilling) and working time arrangements.

Restructuring as such does not necessarily lead to significant cuts in sectoral employment, but it tends to shift it across companies and sub-sectors in ways that can adversely affect many workers. Different forms of privatization have distinct effects on employment annd each case is different. In the case of total or partial change in ownership, most staff cuts tend to occur during restructuring in preparation for privatization. See Background document for the Symposium on the Social and Labour Consequences of Technological Developments, Deregulation and Privatization of Transport.