EU PolicyWatch

The work and life of citizens, workers and businesses in the EU have been disrupted by a series of crises and challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis and extreme weather events related to the climate crisis. Since 2020, businesses came under threat, putting the jobs of many workers at risk. Policymakers – including governments, support institutions, social partners and other social actors – moved swiftly to mitigate the social and economic effects.

Eurofound launched its EU PolicyWatch in 2020 to map responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes measures to cushion the social and economic effects on citizens, workers and businesses. It also includes information on the role played by social partners in the design and implementation of the measures. As COVID-19 became endemic, the scope of the database has been expanding to report responses to further crises and policy challenges. As of mid-2022, the EU PolicyWatch also includes:

• emergency policies adopted in response to the war in Ukraine

• measures to cushion the impacts of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis

• policies supporting the green transition, including emergency measures related to extreme weather events

• support measures for companies that need to restructure and for employees affected by this, previously reported in Eurofound's Restructuring Monitor (ERM) database on support instruments for restructuring

• policies supporting the digital transformation

Eurofound’s EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to different crises or other challenges in a number of policy contexts, and gathers examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts. It aims to:

• give an overview of policy measures introduced in EU Member States (as well as Norway which also participates in the Network of Eurofound Correspondents)

• create a shared pool of information for Eurofound, its stakeholders and users

• record selected examples of company practice and collective agreements

• identify cross-country trends regarding policy measures as the situation evolves

Data are mainly provided by the Network of Eurofound Correspondents, with quality control carried out by Eurofound staff. The policies mapped feed into a range of Eurofound's research, including the following:

Access to the raw dataset, updated at irregular intervals, is also available:

• Data: EU PolicyWatch - JSON

As the situation in Europe is evolving, measures are newly implemented, changed or cancelled and replaced at rapid speed. Cases are updated with information on the actual uptake of the main measures and information on research investigating their effectiveness, as far as feasible.

The Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC) report and review the measures two to four times a year and Eurofound carries out quality control checks prior to publication. For each update round, the correspondents are provided with a brief on the scope and focus of the measures to be reported and updated. The brief is complemented by a manual, describing the topical structure and scope of each topic in the database. Due to the growing number of cases over time, a comprehensive update of all cases is not feasible.

At Eurofound, the following experts can be contacted for questions in relation to the EU PolicyWatch.

• OSHwiki: COVID-19: Back to the workplace - Adapting workplaces and protecting workers(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab

• European Climate and Health Observatory(opens in new tab)This link opens in a new tab by the European Environmental Agency (EEA)

• Eurofound: European Restructuring Monitor