After 18 years in the wilderness, being frozen out of influence in the
corridors of government by Conservative administrations, trade unions have
been informed that they will be offered places on working groups being formed
to advise various government departments. The Trades Union Congress (TUC)
reports a substantially changed mood in Whitehall and Westminster, after
years of unions being systematically excluded from representing their
members.
According to a recent study of 1997 provisions by the Institute for Economics
and Social Science (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut, WSI),
most employees in Germany receive a collectively agreed holiday bonus, though
there are significant sectoral differences in the amount of the bonus. While
most employees are due 30 days' paid leave per year, the average annual
holiday bonus for a blue collar worker in a middle-range income group ranges
between DEM 200 and DEM 2,587.
Since the original introduction of early retirement schemes some 20 years
ago, the number of employees aged 60-66 taking early retirement has more than
tripled, from about 40,000 in 1980 to 127,000 in February 1997, equal to more
than two-thirds of everyone in that age group. In 1976 more than 75% of all
men remained in the labour force until they were 65; today only 28% stay on
until they become entitled to a pension at 67. Over the course of the last 20
years the average age of those taking early retirement has fallen from 63 to
60. TheMinistry of Finance estimates that there will be 160,000 recipients of
early retirement benefits by 2005, whereas theDanish Employers' Confederation
(DA) estimates that this figure will double to some 260,000 people. The wide
difference of opinion between the government estimates and those of the DA
accounts for the disagreement as to whether legislation is needed to stem the
flow of those opting to take early retirement.
During the last few months the attention of Italian industrial relations
practitioners has been drawn by two new kinds of agreement - "gradual
alignment" agreements and so-called "discount agreements". They are quite
different, but both deal in a distinct way with the same problem: wage
flexibility. A deeper analysis of their origins and scope is important, as
the issue of wage flexibility is one of the most prominent in the debate on
the reform of Italian industrial relations, and is put forward with
increasing emphasis by employers' organisations, also with reference to the
forthcoming revision of the tripartite agreement of July 1993, which is due
to start at the end of June 1997.
Entrusted with facilitating partnership between employers, employees and
unions, a National Centre for Partnership was formally established on 15 July
1997, meeting a government commitment in Ireland's three-year economic and
social pact, /Partnership 2000/ (IE9702103F [1]).The Centre's activities will
be directed towards facilitating trust and partnership between employers,
employees and unions and, in this regard, it will seek to facilitate
appropriate agreed local arrangements rather than to prescribe particular
partnership mechanisms.
Spanish trade unions and employers' organisations recently agreed on a major
labour market reform. The three objectives of the "April agreements" of 1997
are to reduce the instability of the labour market, to promote collective
bargaining, and to plug the gaps in sectoral regulation that were left
following the final repeal of the Labour Ordinances.
On 30 May 1997 the Swedish Transport Workers' Union and the Swedish Service
Employers' Association concluded the first collective agreement on wages and
general terms of employment for blue-collar workers employed by temporary
employment agencies.
The demonstration for jobs originally organised by the European Trade Union
Confederation for 28 May 1997, actually took place in France on 10 June, due
to the timing of the general election.
Over the last 10 or so years, the Dutch labour market has been characterised
by increasing flexibility and fragmentation. There is greater variety and
flexibility with respect to working time, pay, job descriptions, the location
of work and the term and type of employment contracts. Part-time work has,
for example, become very popular in the Netherlands. More than one in every
three Dutch employees (mainly women) has a part-time job, in contrast to an
average of one in seven for the EU as a whole. There are also various types
of contract flexibility, such as temporary work, freelance work, on-call
employment, homeworking and teleworking. Whilst the percentage of flexible
employment contracts stood at 7.9% of the working population in 1987, by 1995
it had increased to 10% (Arbeidsverkenning 1987/94. CBS (Central Statistics
Bureau) (1995)). Nowhere else in Europe does temporary work (through private
temporary employment agencies) flourish as it does in the Netherlands.
Temporary workers constitute about 3% of the total available labour supply.
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.
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