Challenges and prospects in the EU

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding digitalisation in Europe? What do we know about the deployment of automation, digitisation and the platform economy? This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe in recent years, as well as mapping the observable or expected effects on employment and working conditions, as well as exploring the implications from a policy perspective.

Following improvements in economic growth and labour market participation after the global financial and economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a new, unprecedented challenge for the EU. The crisis threatens to pose an existential challenge to the EU’s cohesion and legitimacy. The subject of upward convergence is once again centre stage in the European policy debate. Expanding on work done on this topic in previous years, this flagship report traces developments in economic and social indicators between the economic crisis and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U ovom se ključnom izvješću iznose glavni zaključci Eurofoundova istraživanja o radnim uvjetima koje je provedeno u programskom razdoblju 2017. – 2020. U njemu se utvrđuje napredak ostvaren od 2000. i ispituje jesu li svi radnici u jednakoj mjeri imali koristi od pozitivne promjene. Poseban se naglasak stavlja na skupine koje su izložene najvećem riziku od suočavanja s lošim radnim uvjetima te zanemarivanja. Uzimajući u obzir promjene u svijetu rada, utvrđuju se novi izazovi u pogledu osiguravanja visoke razine kvalitete radnih mjesta.

U okviru svojeg mandata, koji uključuje i obvezu promicanja dijaloga među socijalnim partnerima, Eurofound već dulje od 40 godina prati i analizira promjene u sustavima radnih odnosa na razini EU-a i njegovih država članica. Ovo se ključno izvješće temelji na radu Eurofounda u tom području tijekom posljednjeg programskog razdoblja (2015. – 2019.). Temelji se na opsežnom praćenju sustava radnih odnosa i socijalnog dijaloga koje Eurofound kontinuirano provodi.

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding the flexibilisation of employment in recent years? Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020 set out to document and capture these changes in the world of work. This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe in the wake of the global financial crisis, as well as mapping the ongoing challenges and policy approaches taken at EU and national levels to find the right balance between flexibility and security in the labour market.

What have been the major developments in quality of life and public services in Europe in recent years, as captured by research into these areas in Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020? This flagship publication provides a synthesis of the main findings on several key topics, based, in part, on European Quality of Life Survey data.