Wolfsburg,: Despite all the difficulties in changing work processes and qualifications, VW Group boss Herbert Diess still sees great job potential in the car industry, said dpa international.
Employment will remain high, albeit with a partly different focus, he told the news agencies dpa and dpa-AFX.
“To build a lot of cars, you still need a lot of people in production in 2030. And many will be doing fairly similar jobs as today.” It could be more automated, but “will remain essentially production.”
This does not have to contradict the simultaneous development of more IT skills in particular, Diess argued. “Of course we will grow in software with new employees,” he clarified. “But unlike in fast industries, change in the car industry takes a lot of time.”
He warned against taking too gloomy a view of what is sure to be a considerable upheaval for jobs here.
As in other sectors of the economy, the number of employees working from home has also increased recently.
VW works council leader Daniela Cavallo also wants to see more “agile” working and shift models anchored in important areas of production. At the same time, many employees want more personal contact in the workplace again.
“Coronavirus has pushed digitalization significantly,” Diess reported. “We have also learned to work a bit more distributed, with a lot more home working. On the other hand, I am one of those who say: The world after coronavirus will be pretty similar to the one before, with some acceleration.”
