Fundação Europeia para a Melhoria das Condições de Vida e de Trabalho
A agência tripartida da União Europeia que disponibiliza informação com o objetivo de contribuir para o desenvolvimento de melhores políticas sociais, de emprego e laborais
A agência tripartida da União Europeia que disponibiliza informação com o objetivo de contribuir para o desenvolvimento de melhores políticas sociais, de emprego e laborais
Health and safety at work has arisen as a very serious matter of social
concern over recent years and has become a focus of interest for both the
state and the social institutions concerned. The magnitude and complexity of
the problem and the need to find direct and effective solutions have induced
both employers and employees to examine the problem of occupational hazards
and conditions affecting the working environment in general. It is estimated
that in Greece the national economy is burdened by GRD 20 billion a year due
to accidents at work (excluding costs of medical care). The Social Insurance
Foundation (IKA) alone receives 25,000 reports of accidents at work a year.
The problem is even bigger if we add in the cost of occupational illnesses
which remain undiagnosed, since these are ignored by the official statistics.
In a Communication published in March 1997, the European Commission calls for
the modernisation, adaptation and improvement of social protection systems in
the member states. It argues that these systems, most of which were
established decades ago, no longer conform with the changing economic and
social conditions of today's society. The Commission sees a particular need
for social protection systems, which currently account for 28% of total EU
GDP, to be adapted to:
The number of member companies of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and
Industry (NHO) increased by around 2,000 during 1996. NHO aims for a further
growth in membership towards the year 2000.
Workers in the performing arts have been protesting about threats to their
special unemployment benefit scheme arising from employers' positions in the
recent renewal of the agreement on the general UNEDIC scheme.
The cause of the industrial unrest was the announcement by the ruling
Conservative-Liberal coalition Government that it was planning to scale back
annual subsidies for the - basically west - German hard coal (Steinkohle)
industry dramatically. During the ensuing protests, Germany saw a human chain
of more than 90 kilometres straight through the Ruhr coal heartland, and
sympathy demonstrations from east German brown coal miners. Miners in the
Ruhr and the Saar areas went on strike. Tens of thousands of miners took to
the streets, occupied pits and town halls, and blocked roads as well as the
Bonn headquarters of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's ruling Christian Democratic
Party (CDU) and its coalition partner, the Free Democrat Party (FDP). In the
days before the compromise, the protests of the rank and file seemed to get
out of control of the miners' union, IG Bergbau und Energie (IGBE), and its
chair, Hans Berger. For the first time in German post-war history, furious
miners even entered the restricted area surrounding government buildings in
Bonn where no public meetings or marches may be held. As an "act of
solidarity with miners fighting for their existence" the Social Democratic
Party (SPD) temporarily boycotted a meeting in which opposition and coalition
politicians were discussing the reform of the German tax system. When the
miners laid siege to Bonn, Chancellor Kohl temporarily put off talks with the
union leaders to avoid having to negotiate under duress.
The Government has published a working document, entitled "Maritime and ports
policy at the approach of the 21st Century", for public debate. In the
document it proposes a number of measures to deregulate dock work, and the
National Federation of Dockers' Unions has criticised the lack of prior
dialogue and is opposing the new proposals.
In recent years there has been increasing public concern over what is widely
viewed as the spiralling remuneration of company directors. At a time when
companies are keen to promote pay schemes based on performance, too often the
links between directors' pay and performance are viewed as non-existent. In a
report on director's remuneration publicised in March 1997, the IOD is keen
to set the record straight. It argues that, although it recognises that
directors' pay in the largest companies has been on average high, it has been
relatively modest for those directors who work for small to medium-sized
enterprises. In fact, the median pay increase for this group of directors in
1996 was 4%, the equivalent of the increase in average earnings for all
employees in that year.
Intervention from the European Commission has compelled the Belgian
Government to amend its procedures for reducing social security costs (the
Maribel system) and to extend them across-the-board to all sectors of the
economy.
A current bill amending the 1971 Works Councils Act has focused attention on
the increasingly important role played by Dutch works councils in the
negotiation of terms of employment. However, although the function of the
trade unions is being somewhat eroded, even in the area of determining
primary terms of employment, the traditional division of roles between unions
and works councils has remained fundamentally intact.
The phenomenon of illegal immigration in Greece has taken on an ever more
serious dimension. According to evidence from the Ministry of Public Order
the number of foreign workers without a work permit is now around 400,000,
and is expected to increase still further owing to the recent crises in
Albania and Bulgaria. The main countries of origin are Albania, Poland,
Bulgaria and Romania, as well as countries in Asia and Africa. However, there
are also around 30,000 additional foreign nationals who originate from EU
member states, and obtain a special written permit from the Ministry of
Labour.
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.