Challenges and prospects in the EU

Following improvements in economic growth and labour market participation after the global financial and economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a new, unprecedented challenge for the EU. The crisis threatens to pose an existential challenge to the EU’s cohesion and legitimacy. The subject of upward convergence is once again centre stage in the European policy debate. Expanding on work done on this topic in previous years, this flagship report traces developments in economic and social indicators between the economic crisis and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding digitalisation in Europe? What do we know about the deployment of automation, digitisation and the platform economy? This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe in recent years, as well as mapping the observable or expected effects on employment and working conditions, as well as exploring the implications from a policy perspective.

I flaggskeppsrapporten sammanfattas de viktigaste resultaten i Eurofounds undersökning av arbetsvillkoren som utfördes under programperioden 2017–2020. Vi kartlägger de förbättringar av arbetsvillkoren som skett sedan 2000 och undersöker om förbättringarna gynnat alla arbetstagare i lika stor utsträckning. Vi lyfter fram de grupper som löper störst risk att drabbas av dåliga arbetsvillkor och hamna efter i utvecklingen. Nya utmaningar som uppstår på grund av arbetsmarknadens utveckling, och som påverkar arbetskvaliteten, pekas ut.

Som en del av sitt uppdrag att främja dialogen mellan arbetsmarknadens parter har Eurofound övervakat och analyserat arbetsmarknadsrelationernas utveckling på EU-nivå och i EU:s medlemsstater i över 40 år. Denna flaggskeppsrapport bygger på arbetet i detta sammanhang under den senaste programperioden (2015–2019). Den bygger på Eurofounds omfattande löpande övervakning av arbetsmarknadsrelationerna och den sociala dialogen.

What have been the major trends and policy developments regarding the flexibilisation of employment in recent years? Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020 set out to document and capture these changes in the world of work. This flagship publication provides an overview of developments in Europe in the wake of the global financial crisis, as well as mapping the ongoing challenges and policy approaches taken at EU and national levels to find the right balance between flexibility and security in the labour market.

What have been the major developments in quality of life and public services in Europe in recent years, as captured by research into these areas in Eurofound’s work programme for 2017–2020? This flagship publication provides a synthesis of the main findings on several key topics, based, in part, on European Quality of Life Survey data.