This article highlights the importance of rethinking the links between work and social protection in the current context of intense productive transformations and liberalization of political economies. In addition to discussing the adverse effects generated by technological changes in labor relations, with the consequent global growth of the phenomenon of job and income polarization, the objective of this article is to point out the limits and possibilities of current social protection alternatives that seek to respond to this phenomenon. In dialogue with the literature on the future of work and the Welfare State in an era of uncertainty and diversification of social risks, it is concluded that a realistic alternative of social policy for the era of the digital economy would be to protect the occupational transitions of individuals, combining education, income and employment policies, with emphasis on active vocational training policies, with traditional contributory measures.
Technological changes; Digital economy; Reconfiguration of employment relations; Inequalities; Social protection alternatives