Apprenticeships, together with secondary vocational schools (ninth to 13th
grade, around 15 to 19 years of age), form the backbone of the Austrian
skill-formation system. They are a part of the formal educational structure,
and are usually entered into at the age of 15, after completion of the
compulsory nine years of schooling. They involve an employment relationship
plus formal schooling over a period of three or sometimes four years.
Schooling is for the equivalent of one and a half or two days per week.
Apprentices graduate through a final examination in which they have to prove
their theoretical and practical grasp of the occupation concerned. There are
about 45,000 establishments having certified trainers among their employees.
A reform of Portugal's Statute on Teaching Careers is currently under
negotiation in a context that has favoured strengthening the power of the
teaching trade unions, given that education is one of the Government's
priorities. This feature highlights the strategy employed by the teaching
unions to assume greater control over their profession in terms of autonomy,
social mobility and control of their labour market.
The aim of the ETUC day of action (EU9704120N [1]) was to mobilise pressure
on the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) (EU9704117F [2]) and the Amsterdam
European Council meeting (EU9706133N [3]) for a strong commitment to
employment creation in the revised European Union (EU) Treaty.
On 21 May 1997, after five bargaining rounds, the miners' trade union
Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), the salaried employees'
union Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft (DAG) and the Unternehmensverband
Ruhrbergbau (UVR) employers' association for the hard-coal mining industry in
Northrhine-Westphalia, concluded a pilot agreement which covers roughly
75,000 employees in the Northrhine-Westphalia hard-coal mining industry. The
framework for the contents of the agreement was partly set by the "coal
compromise" of 13 March 1997 (DE9703104F [1]).
Over May-June 1997, the dialogue between the Italian Government, trade unions
and employers has been extended to welfare reform and policies related to EU
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
Jarmo Lähteenmäki, the chair of the Finnish Paperworkers' Union- one of the
most powerful unions in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions
(SAK) - announced after a meeting on 11 June 1997 that the union will not
enter national negotiations on incomes policy. Instead, "the Paperworkers'
Union will focus directly on talks with individual unions" - ie, it will
engage only in direct industry-level negotiations with employers in its
sector. The union cited special problems in its sector which prevented it
from participating in comprehensive national incomes policy discussions, such
as the utilisation of outside labour in factories, the move to shorten
working hours, the contracting-out of different factory operations, and the
decision by two of the largest firms in the forestry industry to discontinue
personnel funds (a form of profit-sharing scheme).
The high priority currently given to budget consolidation has been translated
by the Austrian Government into, among other measures, a need to limit
increases in civil service costs - currently ATS 215 billion per year - to no
more than 1.3% annually. The Government is trying to achieve this aim by
reducing the number of civil service employees, keeping salary increases
moderate in real terms, and reducing pensions.
The Portuguese electricity utility, EDP, is being partially privatised and
one of the unions involved in the sector, Sinergia, has taken the innovative
step of subscribing to the share issue.
The eradication of bullying at school has long been an important aim, and
even though it still occurs, there is a genuine wish to stamp it out.
However, relatively few people are aware of the seriousness of bullying
within the workplace. Surveys have been highlighting this point for a long
time - the table below provides some recent examples - but now at last it
seems that the social partners are beginning to realise the hidden costs of
bullying, and attempting to wipe it out.
The Norwegian labour market parties have, during spring 1997, been commenting
on the proposed principles for a revision of the Labour Dispute Act. The
committee which reviewed the Act proposed a strengthening of the
confederations' position with regard to collective bargaining. Although the
Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) and the Confederation of
Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO) basically support the proposal, there
is significant opposition to it, particularly from several employee
organisations.
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 2009, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
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 2013, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Establishment Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance.
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2003, the first edition of the survey.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2007, the second edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2012, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003.
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 EWCS 2005, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
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 EWCS 2010, the fifth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 1990.
This publication series explores scenarios for the future of manufacturing. The employment implications (number of jobs by sector, occupation, wage profile, and task content) under various possible scenarios are examined. The scenarios focus on various possible developments in global trade and energy policies and technological progress and run to 2030.
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.
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.
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.
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 drivers of economic and social convergence in Europe, using a selected set of economic and social indicators to examine trends in the performance of individual Member States. It also investigates what role the Economic and Monetary Union plays in convergence, particularly in southern and eastern Member States. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on convergence is analysed and initial conclusions are drawn about the impact of EU recovery packages and their ability to prevent divergence.
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.
Adequate, affordable housing has become a matter of great concern, with an alarming number of Europeans with low or lower household incomes unable to access any, especially in capital cities. Housing was a key factor in people’s experience of the COVID-19 pandemic: its quality and level of safety significantly affected how lockdowns and social distancing measures were experienced, with those who had no access to quality housing at higher risk of deteriorating living conditions and well-being.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an extraordinary level of provision of social services across the EU. Healthcare and care providers carried much of the burden and, together with essential services, played a crucial role in getting citizens through the crisis. This report explores how public services adapted to the new reality and what role was played by the digital transformation of services. The aim is to contribute to the documentation and analysis of changes in funding, delivery and use of healthcare and social services during the pandemic.
The urban-rural divide in EU countries has grown in recent years, and the depopulation of certain rural areas in favour of cities is a challenge when it comes to promoting economic development and maintaining social cohesion and convergence. Using data from Eurofound and Eurostat, this report will investigate the trends and drivers of the urban-rural divide, in various dimensions: economic and employment opportunities, access to services, living conditions and quality of life.
Building on previous work by Eurofound, this report will investigate intergenerational dynamics over time. During the 2008 double-dip recession, worrying intergenerational divides appeared in many Member States, and while some of the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is universal, early data suggests disparities across demographic cohorts. Eurofound will examine how different age groups may have been affected in terms of their health, labour market participation, quality of life and financial needs, both in the short term and in the long term.
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