Similar and yet different – digitalisation and its consequences for individual occupational profiles

This article uses two occupations as examples to show that while ongoing digitalisation often leads to similar changes at skilled worker level if considered in general terms, closer investigation of the respective workplaces reveal that these changes exert different occupation-specific effects. Commonalities and differences in the occupations of industrial clerk and mechanic in plastics and rubber processing are highlighted with regard to technologies deployed, changed tasks and new skills requirements. The article concludes with some estimates of the further development of the two occupations given the conditions of digitalisation.