Publications

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

In 2009, when Latvia’s budget deficit became acute, the Saeima [1], the
Government of the Republic of Latvia, capped the salaries and bonuses of
public sector employees. Between 2009 and 2011, cuts in the public sector
wage bill accounted for almost half of the money saved through deficit
reduction measures. Salaries in the sector decreased by an average 30%.
Virtually all forms of performance-related bonus were stopped.

[1] http://www.saeima.lv/

Employers make contributions to Poland’s Labour Fund calculated on the
basis of their employees’ wages. The fund is regulated by the 2004 Act on
employment promotion and labour market institutions (*PL0405105F* [1]) and is
intended to help finance Poland’s public employment services, including
paying for measures to help the unemployed back to work. Among such
initiatives are subsidised employment for disadvantaged people in the labour
market, apprenticeships, training and the provision of additional work
equipment or subsidies for people starting up a new business. The fund also
finances special programmes for unemployed people whose situation in the
labour market is particularly difficult. Under the Act, the Ministry of
Labour and Social Policy allocates the fund’s resources.

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-labour-market-legislation-adopted

There is a history of formal cooperation agreements being made between
Lithuania’s political parties and trade union confederations.

This report summarises the findings of ‘Faktaboken om arbeidsmiljø og
helse 2011’ [Factbook on working and health 2011], which presents updated
statistics on the Norwegian working environment and identifies trends in
work-related health problems by gender, age and occupational and industry
groups. The data, based on responses from a representative sample of more
than 24,000 workers, show that Norwegian working conditions and occupational
health continue to improve. Most people have favourable working conditions
and are in good health, and nine out of ten respondents say they are
satisfied with their jobs. However, there are still challenges in some
sectors in order to ensure a safe and healthy working environment that
promotes motivation, good health and work satisfaction for everyone.

A report published by the National Trade Union Bloc (BNS [1]) in August 2012
has examined the impact of vocational training and retraining on the supply
and demand of labour in Romania.

[1] http://www.bns.ro/

In 2010, the Belgian Government provided funds to increase the target sample
size of the population taking part in the European Working Conditions Surveys
(EWCS [1]) from 1,000 to 4,000 respondents. A consortium of Belgian
researchers was employed to compile a report based on the information
collected. The increased number of respondents resulted in a more complete
coverage of sectors and occupations and more reliable findings. The findings
have been published in a report, Quality of work and employment in Belgium
(in French, 1.26Mb PDF) [2].

[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/search/node/ewco OR surveys OR index?oldIndex
[2] https://hiva.kuleuven.be/resources/pdf/publicaties/R1456b_fr.pdf