Measuring convergence
18 January 2021
The European Union is committed to economic, social and territorial cohesion, balanced economic growth and upward economic convergence. Convergence trends between Member States have been achieved over the last decades in both the economic and social dimensions.Read more
The European Union is committed to economic, social and territorial cohesion, balanced economic growth and upward economic convergence. Convergence trends between Member States have been achieved over the last decades in both the economic and social dimensions. The crisis halted these trends and since 2008 stalling or diverging patterns marked the performance of the European Union Member States.
Read lessRecent updates
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EU context
TopDiverging performances among Member States and increasing inequalities within Member States warrant common concern for various reasons. First, because they contradict the expectation that deepening European integration leads to growing cohesion at national and pan-European level.Read more
Diverging performances among Member States and increasing inequalities within Member States warrant common concern for various reasons. First, because they contradict the expectation that deepening European integration leads to growing cohesion at national and pan-European level. Secondly, because they may spread the feeling of social injustice and unfairness among citizens, fuelling anti-European sentiment and undermining the European project.
In order to implement the right initiatives, and to assess their effectiveness in achieving the objective of upward convergence, policymakers require evidence on diverging trends and dynamics both within and between Member States. It is important to know if these trends exist and whether or not they signal a general worsening of living and working conditions, and whether the distance between groups of Member States or regions is increasing and some groups are moving in different directions.
Upward economic and social convergence is seen as a common objective of Economic and Monetary Union and of the European Union as a whole. In order to embed the social element at the heart of its policy action, the Commission formally proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017. As one of the Commission’s current policy priorities, it ‘serves as a compass for the renewed process of convergence across Europe’.
- European Commission: The social dimension of Economic and Monetary Union: Towards convergence and resilience
- European Commission: European Pillar of Social Rights
Eurofound’s work on monitoring upward convergence in the EU links in with the Commission’s 2019–2024 priority on a new push for European democracy.
- About Eurofound: EU priorities: A European Green Deal
- European Commission: A new push for European democracy
Research
TopFocusing on convergence of outcomes and performances of Member States and regions, Eurofound monitors convergence among Member States in the following research areas: socioeconomic factors, employment, working conditions and living conditions.
Read moreFocusing on convergence of outcomes and performances of Member States and regions, Eurofound monitors convergence among Member States in the following research areas: socioeconomic factors, employment, working conditions and living conditions.
The socioeconomic area will include the investigation of real convergence, that is GDP per capita and other macroeconomic variables, as well as access to a broad set of services and to social protection.
Convergence in employment will be analysed based mainly on the historical development of employment participation through the use of Eurostat data.
The exploration of convergence in working conditions will rely on the concept of job quality measured through the European Working Conditions Survey and other statistical sources.
The investigation of living conditions will include objective and subjective indicators, including data drawn from the European Quality of Life Survey, and will cover quality of society, living conditions and general well-being.
The analysis of convergence will also consider various time horizons, from short to long-term trends and, wherever relevant and feasible, the analysis will be broken down by gender and age group in order to capture different trends within the population.
The research activity is organised along three main strands. First, it monitors the latest converging and diverging trends and performances among and within Member States in the research areas above. Then, taking an overarching approach, the research activity aims at understanding the drivers of these trends. This will include the analysis of institutional, macro and micro-level characteristics. Finally, the research will produce evidence to feed the debate regarding initiatives and options to foster economic and social convergence at the European level.
Eurofound is exploring the possibility to combine indicators and create summary indices, drawing on the experience of other international organisations. The analyses, building on previous work, will consider clustering countries or regions to understand variation between them.
Read lessKey outputs over the years
Publications & data
TopThe sections below provide access to a range of publications, data and ongoing work on this topic.
- Publications (34)
- Data
- Ongoing work (3)
Publications
Eurofound publications come in a variety of formats, including reports, policy briefs, blogs, articles and presentations.
Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU - Foundation Forum 2017
Event 14 November 2017Foundation Forum 2017 - Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU
News 13 November 2017Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU - Foundation Forum 2017: Background paper
Publication 8 November 2017Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU - Foundation Forum 2017 - Session 1: Employment and working conditions
Publication 8 November 2017Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU - Foundation Forum 2017 - Session 2: Living conditions
Publication 8 November 2017Converging economies, diverging societies? Upward convergence in the EU - Foundation Forum 2017 - Session 3: Convergence and the regional dimension
Publication 8 November 2017Data
A selection of related data on this topic are linked below.
Ongoing work
Research continues in this topic on a variety of themes, which are outlined below with links to forthcoming titles.
Other ongoing work
- Monitoring convergence in living conditions and providing in-depth analyses of convergence trends among European countries as well as a discussion of policy options to restore convergence among Member States
- Monitoring convergence in social protection and providing in-depth analyses of convergence trends among European countries as well as a discussion of policy options to restore convergence among Member States
- Report on regional convergence and inequalities, which investigates evolutions of social imbalances (e.g. unemployment, social exclusion, poverty) at the regional level and examines the relationship between growth, regional disparities and interpersonal inequalities
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