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
On 20 July 1999, the government decided to finance the training of up to
4,000 young people, if they cannot find training places with employers in
1999-2000. This is the same allocation as for 1998-9 (AT9803175N [1]), when
3,600 young people were placed - 2,100 in 10-month training courses and 1,500
in three-year "apprenticeship-foundation" courses. Training course
participants must have a ninth-grade school-leaving diploma (the ninth grade
is around 15 years of age) and receive about half the regular apprentice's
remuneration, while foundation course participants have not usually completed
the ninth grade and receive three-quarters of the normal apprentice's
remuneration.
The dispute between the Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS) and its ground
staff was resolved after a meeting between management and trade union
representatives on 9 August 1999 in Stockholm, Sweden. On 14 July 1999,
Norwegian ground staff who are members of the SAS Personnel Club (SAS
Personalklubb) had resorted to industrial action, and refused to work
overtime, in protest against the airline's possible plans to increase company
earnings by means of outsourcing approximately 7,000 jobs in Norway, Sweden
and Denmark (NO9907143N [1]). More SAS employees joined the strike on 27
July.
A report entitled Survey evidence on wage rigidity and unemployment: Sweden
in the 1990s [1] was presented on 29 June 1999. The study is based on two
surveys, one conducted in 1991, the other in 1998, aiming to explore among
managers from 157 companies in the Swedish manufacturing industry how a
severe macroeconomic shock affects wage rigidity and unemployment. The
research was carried out by two economists, Jonas Agell and Peter Lundborg,
and funded by the Swedish government's Office of Labour Market Policy
Evaluation (Institutet för arbetsmarknadspolitisk utvärdering, IFAU). In
1998, when the second survey was conducted, the unemployment rate was much
higher and the inflation rate much lower than when the first survey was
carried out in 1991.
Since 1998, all EU Member States are obliged to draw up annual National
Action Plans (NAP s) for employment (EU9805107N [1]) based on the EU's
Employment Guidelines. Member States submitted NAPs for 1999 during summer
1999, analysing implementation of the 1998 Plans and describing the policy
adjustments made to incorporate the changes introduced by the 1999 Employment
Guidelines [2] (EU9810130F [3]). Austria is no exception (AT9802164F [4]) and
its 1999 NAP [5] was issued in June 1999.
Negotiations between the Swedish Road Transport Employer's Association
(Biltrafikens Arbetsgivarförbund, BA), and the Swedish Transport Worker's
Union (Svenska Transportarbetareförbundet, Transport) over a new collective
agreement for taxi drivers and taxi telephone exchange operators finally
failed on 8 August 1999. On 17 August, Transport gave notice to the taxi-cab
companies of a blockade of all passenger traffic, including related work at
the taxi telephone exchanges, to and from the largest Swedish airports -
Arlanda and Bromma (Stockholm), Landvetter (Gothenburg) and Sturup (Malmö).
If the subsequent mediation process is not successful, the blockade was due
to start in the night of 2-3 September 1999. At the time of writing (late
August) nothing had been reported so far on the work of the two mediators.
In late June 1999, opening hours in Austria's retail sector emerged anew as a
hotly debated issue. Most contributions to the debate focused on weekly
opening hours the Sunday closing of shops.
In July 1999, the Finnish social partners reached an agreement on some major
reforms to early retirement and pensions. These reforms, together with the
programme for older workers and the third stage of a scheme to fund adult
training out of unemployment insurance, aim to increase the average
retirement age step by step.
Managerial and professional staff make up approximately 15%-20% of the
workforce in the various EU Member States. There are two principal
organisations which seek to represent the specific interests of this group at
European level:
The president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer
Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB) set out three medium-term policy goals in an
interview with the /Der Standard/ daily newspaper at the end of July 1999:
more full-time employment; a reduction in spurious self-employment; and
income-based accession criteria for countries seeking to join the EU. An
overhaul of the social security system, particularly its financing, and a
re-evaluation of male and female occupations in terms of pay, were added to
the list of priorities at the end of August. In the newspaper interview,
theÖGB president stated that in the short run - the autumn of 1999 - the
harmonisation of the legal treatment of wage earners and salary earners would
take top priority (AT9906153N [1]). He did not rule out major demonstrations
over this issue, estimated to affect 1.2 million people directly, with action
scheduled for the second week of September, after the school holidays. The
national general elections to be held on 3 October would not influence the
ÖGB's determination to push the issue. Other short-term goals are:
In August 1999, the Finnish government decided that in future unemployed
people in many districts will have to accept work from a wider geographical
area than earlier, or lose their benefits. One aim of this change is to
reduce recruitment bottlenecks. Employers have long been pushing for such
measures to "activate" unemployed people and alleviate bottlenecks, while
trade unions wanted to retain the present situation.
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.
The European Restructuring Monitor has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This series includes its restructuring-related databases (events, support instruments and legislation) as well as case studies and publications.
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 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, conducted in two rounds – in April and in July 2020. 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 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.
Eurofound's representativness 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 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 series reports on the new forms of employment emerging across Europe that are driven by societal, economic and technological developments and are different from traditional standard or non-standard employment in a number of ways. This series explores what characterises these new employment forms and what implications they have for working conditions and the labour market.
The European Company Survey (ECS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2004–2005, with the latest edition in 2019. The survey is designed to provide information on workplace practices to develop and evaluate socioeconomic policy in the EU. It covers issues around work organisation, working time arrangements and work–life balance, flexibility, workplace innovation, employee involvement, human resource management, social dialogue, and most recently also skills use, skills strategies and digitalisation.
The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) is carried out every four to five years since its inception in 2003, with the latest edition in 2016. It examines both the objective circumstances of people's lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. It covers issues around employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work–life balance. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people's levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and perceptions of the quality of society.
Living and working in Europe, Eurofound’s 2020 yearbook, provides a snapshot of what is happening in the work and lives of Europeans as explored in the Agency’s research activities over the course of 2020. The scope is broad, from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment and on people’s well-being to the inequalities in the working conditions of women and men. It also highlights the connections between Eurofound’s work and EU policy priorities in the coming years.
The third round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded in February and March 2021, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people after nearly a full year of living with COVID-19 restrictions: How are people doing? What is their outlook on life? How has the availability of vaccinations changed their perceptions? This report presents an overview of the main findings and tracks the developments across the 27 EU Member States since the survey was first launched in April 2020.
While the EU is considered to be a global leader in gender equality, it is not yet a reality for millions of Europeans given the different dynamics in the Member States. The EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 acknowledges the slow speed of progress and outlines key actions to promote gender equality. Have all countries improved their performance? Which countries have been able to dramatically reduce gender inequality? Which countries lag behind?
As part of an annual series on minimum wages, this report summarises the key developments during 2020 and early 2021 with an emphasis on social partners’ roles and views. It looks at how minimum wages were set in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and how minimum wages act as a reference for income support measures. Information from interviews with decision-makers on the process of setting the minimum wage in 2020, along with their assessment of impacts of the proposed EU Directive on adequate minimum wages is also included.
This joint publication with the European Environment Agency (EEA) presents the findings from complementary research carried out simultaneously by both agencies on the socioeconomic impacts of climate policies and measures. While Eurofound focuses particularly on the distributional effects of these policies based on the experiences of Member States, the EEA analyses scientific research about the monetary and non-monetary social impacts of climate mitigation policies and its outcome in terms of inequalities.
The European Green Deal features high on Member State agendas. However, there are concerns that the necessary changes to climate policy may have undesirable socioeconomic consequences, such as regressive distributional effects and increased inequality. This report attempts to identify those policies where there is a significant risk involved and aims to provide guidance on how negative distributional risk can be mitigated.
Based on data from the European Company Survey 2019, this policy brief examines the characteristics of innovative companies and explores the types of workplace practices that are significantly associated with establishments' likelihood of introducing innovation. It also investigates differences between workplace practices of innovative and non-innovative companies. Additionally, data gathered through case studies analyse the role of workplace practices in different phases of the innovation process.
This report investigates the convergence of Member States in various dimensions of living conditions. Indicators are drawn from the European Quality of Life Surveys and other surveys. The analysis pays special attention to particular subgroups such as young people and women. The analysis also investigates the key drivers of convergence in living conditions.
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, a high demand for labour and low unemployment levels made labour shortages one of the key policy concerns in the EU. Even where there is persistent and rising unemployment, individual countries, sectors and occupations are experiencing labour shortages, which in some instances have been accentuated by COVID-19. This report explores various approaches to measuring labour shortages and maps national policy debates around the issue.
As the EU embarks on the transition to a climate-neutral economy, it is crucial to understand the impact of such a transition on production models, employment, work organisation, working conditions, social dialogue and citizens’ lives and living conditions.