EMCC European Monitoring Centre on Change

The European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC) is an information resource established to promote an understanding of changes in the world of work, employment and restructuring. Its work is supported by a Network of Eurofound Correspondents across all EU Member States and Norway.

The EMCC focuses on two main topic areas.

Employment and labour markets

Employment and labour markets is one of the six main activities in Eurofound’s work programme for the 2021–2024 period. Eurofound operates as a centre of expertise for monitoring and analysing labour market developments, particularly as European labour markets are faced with major challenges in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its research will focus on the consequences of the pandemic for work and employment and how to maintain the functioning and inclusiveness of the labour market.

Anticipating and managing the impact of change

Anticipating and managing the impact of change is one of the six main activities in Eurofound’s work programme for the 2021–2024 period. Eurofound will provide evidence on structural developments affecting the EU economy and labour markets, driven largely by digitalisation and the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, but also by the COVID-19 crisis. The research is intended to assist policymakers in anticipating and preparing European labour markets and workplaces for these changes.

COVID-19

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 Living, working and COVID-19, 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.

Featured - Digitalisation driving restructuring in retail banking

Publication

Financial transactions are increasingly conducted electronically, and banks are investing hugely in further developing the possibilities of online banking. These investments are partly a response to increasing customer demand for online services but are also motivated by operational efficiency considerations with investments in new technologies compensated by declining service and labour costs. For this reason, while most service sectors in the EU have seen an increase in employment over the last decade, in retail banking there has been a decrease.

In addition to the digitalisation challenge, banks are also responding to increasing regulatory and compliance burdens, competition from fintech companies, as well as reduced profitability arising from low interest rates.

A new Eurofound report delves into the effect of digitalisation in retail banking and its restructuring drivers, trends, and employment outcomes. The report includes quantitative data from various sources as well as six case studies which describe examples of recent restructuring in the sector, what motivated the restructuring, how it was managed and how it affected employment and work organisation.

Latest restructuring cases

Ryanair
Ireland
30/Nov/2022
150 jobs created
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Netherlands
30/Nov/2022
800 jobs created
Primark
Spain
29/Nov/2022
1000 jobs created
Primark
France
28/Nov/2022
800 jobs created
London Stock Exchange
Romania
24/Nov/2022
100 jobs created
28652 cases recorded since 2002

EMCC Publications