This report explores the growing role of the private sector in the provision of public services in the EU. The research is based on sector-specific case studies carried out in Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It focuses specifically on social services of general interest (SSGIs) in the areas of
This issue contains articles on: Findings in figures; Workplace innovation can harness talent and skills; Boosting social inclusion of young people; News in brief; and Latest from EurWORK.
National wage-bargaining institutions are crucial in achieving pay outcomes that help to increase employment and economic growth within the context of avoiding macroeconomic imbalances within the European Monetary Union. Using a large set of empirical macroeconomic data from a variety of sources
Workplace innovation (WPI) refers to practices that enable employees to participate in organisational change in such a way as to improve the quality of their working life and organisational performance. This report examines the motives behind the adoption of WPI and describes its implementation acro
This report examines the upward and downward trends in job quality across the EU from 1995 to 2010. The improvement and harmonisation of working conditions are core objectives of the European Union, but many factors affect job quality.
Collective bargaining has been crucial in developing recent initiatives on flexible working time in many countries, both at sectoral and at company level. Such agreements, together with some legislation, also cover working with ICT outside an employer’s premises (such as telework). This topical
This report describes the developments in collectively agreed pay in the EU Member States in 2014 and compares them to developments in previous years. While growth in collectively agreed pay in nominal terms declined, the declining growth of prices resulted in real collectively agreed pay increasing
In a context of globally slow growth since the financial crisis, the EU and in particular the euro zone economies have underperformed relative to other major developed-world economies. Output in the euro zone remained lower in the first quarter of 2015 than seven years earlier, and three million
It is important to underline that when referring to gender issues there is a risk of limiting the discussion, views and study exclusively to the situation of women and overlooking wider gender issues, including the situation of men.
The average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union of 38.1 hours did not change between 2013 and 2014. In both years, the working week also remained, on average, 30 minutes shorter than the EU28 average in the EU15 Member States, and more than 90 minutes longer in the more