Labour market in sustainability transitions: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The study objective is to analyse scientific literature relating to the labour market in sustainability transitions and identify emerging research directions and implemented research methods. A bibliometric analysis method was used to review the literature from the SCOPUS database. Moreover, an in-depth review of selected publications that fall into the field of social sciences was made. In literature, it is recognised that there is a scarcity of research linking the labour market and sustainability. However, in the analysed period of 1997-2023, a gradual growth was noticed in the number of publications. Four thematic clusters were identified in relation to green growth, twin transition, green employment and sustainable European labour market policy issues. The majority of authors based their study results on a critical analysis of literature, case study and database analysis. Even though qualitative research is popular among researchers studying the labour market in sustainability transitions, foresight methodology has not been used so far. The topics researched to an insufficient extent include, among others, career ecosystem, precarious employment, digital transformation, just transition, artificial intelligence or the future of work.