Evropská nadace pro zlepšování životních a pracovních podmínek
Nadace Eurofound je tripartitní agenturou Evropské unie, která poskytuje přehled poznatků s cílem přispívat k rozvoji lepších sociálních, zaměstnaneckých a pracovních politik
Nadace Eurofound je tripartitní agenturou Evropské unie, která poskytuje přehled poznatků s cílem přispívat k rozvoji lepších sociálních, zaměstnaneckých a pracovních politik
Recent figures from Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå, SSB) show a
significant decline in the labour force participation rate of people with
disabilities, or 'impaired functionality'. Only 42.5% of all people in this
group were in employment in the second quarter of 2003, while at the same
time 3.9% were unemployed, compared with 46.6% and 3.1% respectively in the
same quarter of 2002. The total labour force participation rate of people
with disabilities/impaired functionality was 46.4% in the second quarter of
2003 - a significant drop from the 49.5% recorded in the same quarter of
2002. The figure is much lower than that for the whole population, which has
a labour force participation rate of 79% in 2003. The unemployment rate, on
the other hand, is not higher among people with disabilities than in the
population at large.
This report demonstrates the form that the descriptive and analytical components of the monitoring programme on quality of life could take. If individual and national quality of life is to be improved in the European Union through evidence based social policy, this will require both descriptive and analytical monitoring programmes. This report begins the task of providing both a descriptive benchmark for the monitoring programme and an analytical understanding of the processes that shape these patterns.
In late June 2003, Sweden's main trade union and employers' confederations
agreed joint guidelines [1] for implementing the European framework agreement
on telework [2] signed in July 2002 (EU0207204F [3]) by the EU-level central
social partners - the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Council
of European Professional and Managerial Staff (EUROCADRES)/European
Confederation of Executives and Managerial Staff (CEC) liaison committee, the
Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE)/the
European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME)
and the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of
Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP). The EU-level telework
agreement was the first cross-industry agreement between the social partners
which was not intended to be implemented by an EU Directive, but by the
national member organisations of the signatory parties 'in accordance with
the procedures and practices specific to management and labour in the Member
States'.
Temporary agency workers can no longer be employed at lower wages than paid
to employees of the user company at the same workplace for the same work.
This is the implication of an arbitration award issued on 1 September 2003 in
a case involving the Union of Danish Electricians (Dansk El-Forbund) and
Tekniq, the employers' organisation for heating and plumbing engineering and
electrical installation, which found that temporary agency workers should
work under the same contractual terms as apply to user company employees who
perform the same work, including the same wages. The building workers'
section of the General Workers’ Union in Denmark (Specialarbejderforbundet
i Danmark, SiD) has described this award as a 'U-turn' in terms of the legal
status of temporary agency workers.
In recent years, 'atypical' work – and particularly 'semi-subordinate' work
(midway between dependent employment and self-employment) – has played a
key role in employment growth in Italy, accounting for more than 40% of new
jobs created. The most important of the non-dependent atypical forms of work
is 'employer-coordinated freelance' work. Unlike temporary work, this form of
employment relationship has continued to increase, at an average growth rate
of 12% per year, and now involves almost 2.4 million workers. This increase
has been matched by a substantial growth, in both quantitative and
qualitative terms, of collective bargaining covering such workers, which has
led to important agreements being reached not only at the company and
territorial level but also at the sectoral and national levels. This article
examines the situation in mid-2003.
A new Labour Code came into effect on 1 March 2003, following the
introduction of Law No. 53 of 2003 (the 'Labour Code law'). It aims to
replace Romania's previous industrial relations rules, which were dominated
by the assumptions of the former 'command economy' based on centralised
planning. The new Code – made up of 13 titles, 37 chapters, 17 sections and
298 articles – governs collective labour relations as a whole, involving
employees (defined as Romanian citizens working inside or outside the
country, and foreign citizens working for a Romanian employer in the country,
including refugees), employers (individuals or companies with legal
personality), trade unions and employers' organisations.
Two national collective agreements for workers in the Italian tourism sector
were signed in July 2003. The agreements' main provisions include an 11.5%
wage increase over four years, the introduction of a supplementary health
insurance scheme and the enhancement of decentralised bargaining.
A new national collective agreement for the Italian insurance sector was
signed in July 2003. As well as pay increases, the agreement contains a
number of innovatory provisions, including: the creation of a national
observatory on bullying, the establishment of a fund for the care of disabled
workers; and enhanced information and consultation, including on equal
opportunities issues.
In August 2003, the Polish government named four coal mines which are to be
closed in 2004, following an agreement reached with mineworkers' trade unions
in 2002 on the closure of unprofitable mines. The announcement led to the
unions calling strike action in the mines concerned, despite government
assurances that new jobs or appropriate accompanying social measures will be
arranged for all the miners to be made redundant.
On 22 July 2003, the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer
Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) and the Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer, AK)
jointly presented a study on the working and living conditions of 'atypical'
workers in Austria. The study (Atypisch beschäftigt - typisch für die
Zukunft der Arbeit [1]) evaluates interviews conducted in 2002 with 528
people who made use of special advisory services for 'atypical' workers
offered by both ÖGB and AK. More precisely, the researchers’ focus group
were self-employed people employed under either a 'free service contract'
(freier Dienstvertrag) or a 'contract for work' (Werkvertrag) (TN0205101S
[2]). According to Austrian labour law, both groups are classified as
self-employed in the narrow sense, although they do not employ other people
and often work for only one client. Actually, their working situation
resembles to a great extent that of (dependent) employees. People working on
a 'contract for work' basis (also referred to as the 'new self-employed', or
neue Selbständige) are obliged to fulfil a certain, well-defined task,
regardless of whether they do this themselves or subcontract to other people.
For their part, 'free service contract' workers provide an (often fixed-term)
ongoing service. Formally, they are not subject to the instructions of the
client and are free to schedule their own working time. Working materials, in
general, have to be made available to these workers by the client.
The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This publication series include the ERM reports, as well as blogs, articles and working papers on restructuring-related events in the EU27 and Norway.
Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) 2021, an extraordinary edition conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
This publication series gathers all overview reports on developments in working life, annual reviews in industrial relations and working conditions produced by Eurofound on the basis of national contributions from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC). Since 1997, these reports have provided overviews of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The series may include recent ad hoc articles written by members of the NEC.
Eurofound’s work on COVID-19 examines the far-reaching socioeconomic implications of the pandemic across Europe as they continue to impact living and working conditions. A key element of the research is the e-survey, launched in April 2020, with five rounds completed at different stages during 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is complemented by the inclusion of research into the ongoing effects of the pandemic in much of Eurofound’s other areas of work.
Eurofound's representativeness studies are designed to allow the European Commission to identify the ‘management and labour’ whom it must consult under article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This series consists of studies of the representativeness of employer and worker organisations in various sectors.
This series reports on developments in minimum wage rates across the EU, including how they are set and how they have developed over time in nominal and real terms. The series explores where there are statutory minimum wages or collectively agreed minimum wages in the Member States, as well as minimum wage coverage rates by gender.
The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) launched in 1990 and is carried out every five years, with the latest edition in 2015. It provides an overview of trends in working conditions and quality of employment for the last 30 years. It covers issues such as employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, physical and psychosocial risk factors, health and safety, work–life balance, worker participation, earnings and financial security, work and health, and most recently also the future of work.
Eurofound’s Flagship report series 'Challenges and prospects in the EU' comprise research reports that contain the key results of multiannual research activities and incorporate findings from different related research projects. Flagship reports are the major output of each of Eurofound’s strategic areas of intervention and have as their objective to contribute to current policy debates.
Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2019, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
This series reports on and updates latest information on the involvement of national social partners in policymaking. The series analyses the involvement of national social partners in the implementation of policy reforms within the framework of social dialogue practices, including their involvement in elaborating the National Reform Programmes (NRPs).
This paper provides an analytical summary of state of the art academic and policy literature on the impact of climate change and policies to manage transitions to a carbon neutral economy on employment, working conditions, social dialogue and living conditions. It maps the key empirical findings around the impact of climate change and the green transitions on jobs, sectors, regions and countries in Europe, identifying the opportunities and risks that climate change policies bring to European labour markets.
This report explores the association between skills use and skills strategies and establishment performance, and how other workplace practices, in terms of work organisation, human resources management and employee involvement, can impact on this. It looks at how skills shortages can be addressed, at least in part, by creating an environment in which employees are facilitated and motivated to make better use of the skills they already have. This further supports the business case for a more holistic approach to management.
In 2022, the European Semester was streamlined to integrate the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) established on 19 February 2021 (Regulation (EU) 2021/241). While facing the geopolitical and economic challenges triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Member States have been implementing the national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs) for more than one year and around 100 billion euro in RRF funds have already been disbursed.
As economies emerge from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, labour shortages are becoming increasingly evident. These include shortages exacerbated by the crisis in some sectors and professions where they had been endemic for some time. This report will look at measures implemented at national level to tackle labour shortages in the health, care and information and communications technology sectors, as well as those arising from the twin digital and green transitions.
As part of its response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, the EU swiftly activated its Temporary Protection Directive for those fleeing the conflict in Ukraine – enabling displaced persons to settle in the EU and have access to the labour market and basic public services. This policy brief highlights the main barriers encountered by these refugees (over 5 million people to date) when seeking a job and provides suggestions on how to facilitate their integration.
With the expansion of telework and different forms of hybrid work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for policymakers to consider both the opportunities and the negative consequences that may result. This report will explore potential scenarios for such work. In doing so, it will identify trends and drivers, and predict how they might interact to create particular outcomes and how they are likely to affect workers and businesses. Policy pointers will outline what could be done to facilitate desirable outcomes and to avoid undesirable ones.
Living and working in Europe, Eurofound’s 2022 yearbook, provides a snapshot of the latest developments in the work and lives of Europeans as explored in the Agency’s research activities over the course of 2022. Eurofound’s research on working and living conditions in Europe provides a bedrock of evidence for input into social policymaking and achieving the Agency’s vision ‘to be Europe’s leading knowledge source for better life and work’.
The term ‘hybrid work’ became popular due to the upsurge of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. The term has been increasingly used to refer to situations in which (teleworkable) work is performed both from the usual place of work (normally the employer’s premises) and from home (as experienced during the pandemic) or other locations. However, the concept of hybrid work is still blurry, and various meanings are in use. This topical update brings clarity to this concept by exploring available information from recent literature and the Network of Eurofound Correspondents.
Housing affordability is a matter of great concern across the EU. Poor housing affordability leads to housing evictions, housing insecurity, problematic housing costs and housing inadequacy. These problems negatively affect health and well-being, create unequal living conditions and opportunities, and come with healthcare costs, reduced productivity and environmental damage. Private market tenants face particularly large increases in the cost of housing.
Eurofound's annual review of minimum wages reports on the development of statutory and collectively agreed minimum wages across the EU and the processes through which they were set. The focus of this year’s report is on the impact of high inflation on the setting of minimum wage rates. In addition, new figures on the net value of minimum wages are presented, along with the latest policy-relevant research in the EU Member States and Norway.
MEMBER OF THE NETWORK OF EU AGENCIES
Eurofound je agentura Evropské unie