spd albrecht thorben 0216Thorben Albrecht is the Policy Director of IG Metall, the German metalworkers' trade union. His responsibilities include strategies and policies as well as representing the interests of IG Metall’s more than 2 million members vis a vis political institutions in Berlin and Brussels.

 

Thorben is an internationally acknowledged expert on the future of work. His fields of expertise include issues like automation and artificial intelligence, new forms of work and managing transitions, including agile work, skills development, flexibility arrangements and social dialogue.

 

He has been a member of the Global Commission on the Future of Work established by the International Labour Organisation and chaired by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven from 2017 to 2019.

 


From 2014 to 2018 Thorben has been a Permanent State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Among his most important legislative projects has been the introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany. He also launched the “Work 4.0” dialogue - a public dialogue of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on the future of work. It has provided important input for a broader debate within society on shaping quality jobs in the digital age. As State Secretary Thorben has been a member of the German Government’s IT Council and of the “digital agenda” steering group.

 

His career also includes working for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (i.a. as “General Manager” from 2018 to 2019) and for the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). He is an alumnus of the „Marshall Memorial Fellowship“ (2008) of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

 

Photo: copyright Susie Knoll