In most Member States, no legal provision or specific support schemes exist to facilitate private sector companies’ engaging in corporate volunteering. Nonetheless, more companies are introducing such initiatives. CSR Europe, the European business network for corporate social responsibility, and its
The formerly communist countries of central and eastern Europe provide a good example of how strongly volunteering is influenced by political and social traditions. These countries’ communist legacy did not favour a culture of volunteering and influenced the emergence of such a culture after the
Although the Eurobarometer surveys in 2006 and 2010 show relatively little change in the level of participation in volunteering, recent Eurofound research points to a general upward trend in many Member States. The growth in volunteering of the last 10 years is partly attributed to public
Just over 20% of Europeans take part in voluntary and charitable activities, though there are wide differences between Member States. The highest rates are seen in the Nordic Member States (Denmark, Finland, Sweden) and the lowest rates are in Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Spain
This analysis of recent developments in the automotive sector in the countries covered by this report seems to support the idea that the sector’s expansion will – in the medium term – depend on the growth of emerging markets (Brazil, China and India). In these countries, the potential for growth in
An estimated 14 million workers across Europe rely on the automotive sector for work. When the current economic downturn began to affect vehicle production, profound changes were already underway in the sector, triggered by the emergence of new markets and the search for lower production and labour
Being in work greatly reduces the risk of poverty. Nevertheless, in the European Union, 8% of the employed population fell into the category of ‘working poor’ in 2007, in the sense of having an income below 60% of the national average. The proportion varies markedly across countries and social
The pace of recovery following the 2008–9 economic crisis has picked up somewhat throughout 2010 with the EU forecast to register 1.7% growth in 2010. Uncertainty however persists on a number of fronts. Fears of a double dip recession in the US economy have been reinforced by recent weak employment
The four drivers of change identified in Eurofound’s 2009-2012 work programme, globalisation, demographic change, technological change and climate change, remain challenges at global and European levels. These challenges are reflected in the Europe 2020 strategy. The demographic changes in