Our working conditions have great influence on our lives, our income and our social status. Due to tremendous changes in demography, technology and gender roles, the term “good work” has gained great importance. Not only trade unions, but also parties and foundations have put the topic on their agenda. Researchers deal with specific aspects of “good work,” but mostly without making clear how their studies relate to one another. The first interdisciplinary doctoral program “Good Work. Approaches to Shaping Tomorrow's World of Work” seeked to bridge that gap and to answer the question what “good work” is and how changes in digitalization, migration, growing income disparities etc. influence the future of work.   

The first program was sponsored by the WZB and the Hans Böckler Foundation and headed by Prof. Jutta Allmendinger Ph.D. The duration of the program was three years, starting in November 2016. The team consisted of five WZB-based researchers and eight doctoral students with different disciplinary backgrounds such as sociology, economics, psychology and related areas. Cooperation partners were located at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, the University of Potsdam, the Technical University of Munich and the University of Hohenheim. The research focused on following thematic areas:

I. “Good work” in the digital economy (Head: Dr. Martin Krzywdzinski)

II. Migration and “good work” (Head: Dr. Susanne Veit)

III. “Good work” and quality of life (Head: Lena Hipp Ph.D.)

IV. Good incomes from “good work” (Head: Dr. Martin Ehlert)

V. Promoting “good work” (Head: Sigurt Vitols Ph.D.)

These five thematic areas were covered by a cooperation of different research units and project groups of the WZB which gave the doctoral program a unique bridging function.