Jorge Cabrita

Mental sundhed i Europa står ved en kritisk skillevej. Mens nogle indikatorer er blevet bedre siden pandemien, afslører en ny Eurofound-rapport bekymrende tendenser, herunder et alarmerende stop for det årtier lange fald i selvmordsraten. I denne episode af Eurofound Talks taler Mary McCaughey med senior research manager Hans Dubois om dette komplekse problem og fremhæver, at dårlig mental sundhed påvirker sårbare grupper uforholdsmæssigt meget.

The COVID-19 pandemic made us acutely aware of how dependent our society is on certain essential workers. We felt deep gratitude towards workers in healthcare especially, because they worked ceaselessly in often-difficult conditions. But this most valued of sectors is in danger of failing society’s needs in the future because of growing labour shortages. Working conditions in healthcare are increasingly challenging, pushing highly qualified staff out of the sector and deterring new entrants. How to tackle this bleak situation? Social dialogue and collective bargaining played a crucial role in ensuring the effective functioning of hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Could social dialogue be the solution to maintaining and building a health sector workforce for the 3D transition (digitalisation, decarbonisation and the demographic shift)?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, recorded for International Women's Day 2023, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound Working Life researchers Jorge Cabrita and Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė about how, when paid and unpaid work are combined, women do eight full-time weeks more work than men per year, and the broader implications of this for society. They also discuss how indicators of work-life balance and work-life conflict differ for women and men, as well as the policy action that can be taken to improve gender equality in Europe.

The results of recent research on working time patterns in the EU constitute a strong plea for working time policies that clearly acknowledge the life course perspective. This means that working time must not only be thought and organised in daily, weekly, monthly and/or yearly terms but also take into full consideration the different stages of our lives.