As could not be otherwise, the changes in the world of work are associated with the evolution of techniques and technologies that now occur at a much higher speed than that when these changes took place in the past.

We all know that the world is changing and that the job market is also changing, but what we have to do is ensure that these changes take place within a framework of rules and values of respect for people and the dignity of work, that is, within of the framework of principles that we associate with the concept of decent work.

In this way, what is meant here is that we are confronted with a reality of permanent change, because, as the Poet already reminded us, times are always made of changes, always taking on new qualities.

These changes integrate new knowledge and skills, which determines new responsibilities for society in terms of defining new frameworks that enable the permanent adaptation that we all have to make within the framework of lifelong learning.

Finally, it is important to emphasize that these changes, to be rich and enriching, also require environments of dialogue and participation.

It is, therefore, an acquired fact that today we are confronted with two strategic and structuring changes or transitions in the functioning of society and the world of work, the environmental transition and the digital transition. It is not worth ignoring or avoiding them, because both advance inexorably, and we just have not been able to find the rhythm to, realize their consequences, act in terms of taking advantage of them or living with them, promoting people's well-being, with more development and better quality of life. We have always been one step behind and, despite warnings of the most diverse nature, we are always slower and, therefore, always more subject to its most negative consequences. There are multiple examples of appeals and guidelines aimed at changing behaviors and practices, of which the UN is a paradigm, through the definition it made of the Goals for Sustainable Development.

In terms of the labor market, everyone has underlined the impact of these changes in terms of jobs being extinguished, and above all the lack of adaptability of workers whose jobs are extinguished to respond to the new jobs that are on the rise, many of which are not even we haven't even guessed yet.

A world undergoing unstoppable climate change demands adaptations of the most diverse kind from companies, both in terms of what they do and produce, and the conditions in which they are organized, to respond to energy efficiency challenges. Society's own needs change, requiring new products or adapted products that respond to these environmental concerns. We are therefore faced with the need to make new products, new machines, and new forms of intervention at the most varied levels available to people and which respond to these new demands.

Within the framework of these changes, we cannot ignore the demographic changes that have emptied people from rural areas and the interior, channeling them to the coast and making the big cities gigantic, without forgetting the general aging of the population. These realities have to bring with them measures that make it possible to manage these cities with new products, promote the attractiveness of rural areas to reduce the burden on cities, and respond to a new dimension in the number of senior people since they are withdrawn from the world of work it does not mean to be withdrawn from life, therefore new products and new activities are also needed here.

Added to this is another change that is taking place at an accelerated pace, the digital transition, where Artificial Intelligence today takes on new contours that frighten many people every day. See what the Italian government tried to do by trying to prevent access to ChatGPt. The digital has to be assumed as an indispensable tool at the most diverse levels and in all sectors. What will certainly not happen is for digital to replace people at work. What has to happen is that people have to continue working, but using digital as a tool.

Having arrived here, the obvious consequence is that we must adapt our companies and our education and training systems to a logic of lifelong learning, in a climate of permanent interaction. Our education and training institutions, at all levels, have to reorganize themselves in terms of training offers, their contents, and their audiences. Here, too, a quick, consistent, visible, and attractive ability to adapt is essential. But companies also have to assume an effective growth in the absorption of graduates from our different training sectors, according to their market targets.

Finally, all these changes must take place within a framework of rules and values that guarantee fair wages, non-discrimination based on gender, and compatibility between working time and family life. For this to happen, it is essential to promote social dialogue, guaranteeing adequate levels of worker participation in the definition of companies' social policies.

It therefore becomes necessary to work towards preparing adequate responses to the challenges of the future that work will embody, in its inexorable march of evolution, but always preserving people and their dignity.