The informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for employment and social policy (EPSCO) took place in Bordeaux on 14–15 February 2022. The meeting focused on the challenges posed by the major green and digital transitions to the labour market, and the way in which the European Union can support these transitions within the framework of the construction of a new European model of growth.
Ces dernières années, hormis quelques pics occasionnels, il a été constaté une baisse générale des actions syndicales dans tous les États membres de l’Union. Pendant la pandémie de Covid-19, cette tendance s’est poursuivie; sans surprise, les conflits de travail les plus importants se sont produits dans le secteur de la santé humaine et des services sociaux, le secteur de l’éducation et le secteur des transports et de la logistique.
Le présent rapport donne un aperçu de l’incidence de la crise de la COVID-19 sur la qualité de vie des personnes âgées, y compris l’impact sur leur bien-être, leur situation financière, l’emploi et l’inclusion sociale. Il examine les effets de la pandémie sur l’utilisation des services de soins et la dépendance des personnes âgées à l’égard d’autres formes de soutien. Le rapport présente les mesures politiques ayant été mises en œuvre par les États membres de l’Union européenne pour aider les personnes âgées dans tous les domaines susmentionnés.
The first overview of minimum wage setting for 2022 shows that, while some negotiations are still ongoing, virtually all EU Member States have increased their nominal statutory rates. Compared to last year, when most countries settled for cautious increases against a background of deep uncertainty caused by the pandemic, growth in statutory rates for 2022 was stronger, reflecting an easing of the situation. This was especially the case in central and eastern European countries, where some increases were in double digits. Nevertheless, inflation is back in the picture and should be monitored in the coming months to get an insight into how the increases in nominal minimum wage rates translate into actual changes in the purchasing power of minimum wage earners.
Les priorités d’Eurofound pour 2021–2024 sont déterminées par les principaux défis que sont la cohésion sociale et les transitions justes dans un environnement changeant au lendemain de la crise de la COVID-19. Le présent programme de travail est tourné vers l’Europe de l’après-COVID-19. L’incertitude qui a caractérisé ces deux dernières années continue de projeter son ombre et engendre des changements de grande ampleur, probablement de long terme, quant à notre façon de vivre et de travailler.
The European Union Agencies Network on Scientific Advice (EU-ANSA) consists of technical and regulatory agencies that provide scientific advice to EU policymakers. This report demonstrates how EU-ANSA member Agencies are addressing the socioeconomic effects of sustainable development. It is based on two surveys conducted among the member Agencies. The survey results show that the most researched areas include the economy, employment, skills and training, gender inequalities, health and safety, social aspects, the role of regulation and social dialogue.
La convergence ascendante est au cœur du projet de l’UE. Les États membres et leurs citoyens signent pour faire partie de lʼUnion, car ils sʼattendent à ce que leur adhésion conduise à une prospérité économique et à un progrès social équilibrés entre les pays. Lʼaugmentation des disparités entre les États membres, comme cela sʼest produit pendant la crise économique de 2008-2013, pourrait être considérée comme une trahison de la promesse de lʼUE et jeter les bases du mécontentement et de la désintégration.
L’évolution technologique s’accélère avec le développement des capacités des appareils électroniques en termes de stockage, de traitement et de communication des informations au format numérique. Le numérique transforme l’économie et les marchés du travail de l’Union: près d’un tiers des lieux de travail de l’Union sont classés comme hautement numérisés. Quelles sont les implications de la révolution numérique pour l’emploi et le travail? Et quelle pourrait en être l’incidence sur le dialogue social?
L’une des évolutions les plus frappantes au cours du dernier demi-siècle a été l’augmentation considérable de la participation des femmes au marché du travail. Un tiers des nouveaux emplois nets créés au cours des deux dernières décennies dans l’UE ont été occupés par des femmes. Dans le même temps, la hausse considérable des taux d’emploi des travailleurs âgés due au vieillissement de la population et à l’évolution des politiques ont accru la part des travailleurs âgés sur le marché du travail.
Malgré la participation croissante des femmes au marché du travail et la proportion plus élevée de femmes que d’hommes engagées dans des emplois bien rémunérés ces dernières années, il existe un écart de rémunération entre les femmes et les hommes dans tous les États membres de l’UE. Il a été démontré que les écarts de rémunération entre les femmes et les hommes étaient influencés de manière significative par le secteur économique dans lequel les personnes travaillent et la profession qu’elles occupent.
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).
The COVID-19 crisis has increased inequality between social groups in health, housing, employment, income and well-being. While a small part of society was able to hold on to or increase its wealth, other groups such as women, young people, older people, people with disabilities, low- and middle-income earners and those with young children were acutely affected by the pandemic. Drawing on current research on how to best measure multidimensional inequality, this report highlights recent trends in inequality in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.
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.
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.
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.
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 use of artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and the Internet of Things technologies in the workplace can bring about fundamental changes in work organisation and working conditions. This report analyses the ethical and human implications of the use of these technologies at work by drawing on qualitative interviews with policy stakeholders, input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents and Delphi expert surveys, and case studies.
This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in European sectoral social dialogue taking place at cross-sectoral level. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in the European sectoral social dialogue and their capacity to negotiate agreements. The aim of this Eurofound’s study on representativeness is to identify the relevant national and European social partner organisations at cross-sectoral level in the EU Member States.
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