Inclusive labour markets
Well-functioning labour markets are a prerequisite for making full use of the job creation potential of the economy as it emerges from the financial and economic crisis. The crisis had very different labour market consequences across the EU Member States, and some groups such as young people and those with low education were particularly hard hit. The rapid ongoing structural change also presents new challenges as regards possible labour shortages and skills mismatches in various sectors and regions.
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28 August 2023
This report investigates the social groups whose attachment to the labour market may be unstable and who are most likely to have non-standard working arrangements, and the implications of such arrangements, and job insecurity, for workers’ well-being, social exclusion, trust, perception of fairness and political participation. The report finds that non-permanent contracts, informal work and insecure jobs are associated with negative outcomes when it comes to social exclusion and trust, while job insecurity is additionally associated with poorer well-being. Recent examples of policies addressing labour market instability are also presented, focusing on longer-term measures in the post-pandemic period.
14 June 2023
In responding to Russia’s war against Ukraine, the EU activated its Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) for people who fled the country, allowing them to settle in the EU and to access basic public services and the labour market. By spring 2023, more than 4.5 million people had made use of the TPD or similar national protection schemes in the EU. In 2022, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights conducted an online survey among people displaced from Ukraine. Eurofound has analysed the survey results on their experiences when seeking to access employment. This paper highlights the main barriers that displaced people encountered and suggests ways to facilitate their inclusion.
9 December 2020
Closing gender gaps in the labour market by achieving the equal participation of women is among the key objectives of the new Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025. Despite significant progress in reducing the gender employment gap, it has stagnated over the past few years. Moreover, segregation in employment across sectors and occupations is still pervasive.
Against this background, this policy brief investigates the evolution of female labour market participation in the last decade and shows that the persisting gender employment gap cost Europe more than €320 billion per year in 2018, corresponding to 2.4% of EU GDP. The analysis also examines the disproportionate effects that the current COVID-19 crisis is having on working women, including the risk of disengagement from the labour market and the unintended consequences of confinement measures. It ends with a review of policy responses to the pandemic that have supported female employment in the short term and proposes how policy should respond in the long run to avoid rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality.
Highlights for Inclusive labour markets
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
9 December 2020
Women and labour market equality: Has COVID-19 rolled back recent gains?
Closing gender gaps in the labour market by achieving the equal participation of women is among the key objectives of the new Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025. Despite significant progress in reducing the gender employment gap, it has stagnated over the past few years. Moreover, segregation in employment across sectors and occupations is still pervasive.
Against this background, this policy brief investigates the evolution of female labour market participation in the last decade and shows that the persisting gender employment gap cost Europe more than €320 billion per year in 2018, corresponding to 2.4% of EU GDP. The analysis also examines the disproportionate effects that the current COVID-19 crisis is having on working women, including the risk of disengagement from the labour market and the unintended consequences of confinement measures. It ends with a review of policy responses to the pandemic that have supported female employment in the short term and proposes how policy should respond in the long run to avoid rolling back decades of gains achieved in gender equality.
17 August 2020
How to use the surge in teleworking as a real chance to include people with disabilities
25 June 2020
Racial discrimination is not a thing of the past in the EU
16 April 2020
Labour market change: Trends and policy approaches towards flexibilisation
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. Based, in part, on European Working Conditions Survey data, the findings of this report map labour market changes between 2008 and 2018 with a specific focus on working time, contract type and employment status.
27 November 2019
How your birthplace affects your workplace
Employment statistics consistently show that having a foreign background has an influence on people’s employment prospects. Less is known about the types of jobs workers with foreign backgrounds hold and their working conditions. This policy brief contributes to filling this gap. It compares the experience of workers with a foreign background to that of native workers; it also distinguishes between the experiences of first-generation and second-generation migrants and between those of women and men.
The evidence shows that having a foreign background can have a negative impact both on labour market integration and working conditions. However, significant differences emerge between different groups of migrants. The findings highlight the clear need for a nuanced approach to policymaking to ensure a level playing field in the labour market for workers with a foreign background.
25 September 2019
Upward convergence in employment and socioeconomic factors
Upward convergence is a process whereby the performance of EU Member States in a given domain or range of domains is seen to improve while gaps between Member States reduce. Achieving upward convergence is of crucial importance to the EU, as the increase of disparities among Member States threatens the cohesion of the Union by counteracting citizens’ expectations that EU membership will improve working and living conditions. This report investigates recent socioeconomic and employment trends across Member States and offers possible policy measures to assist in avoiding future divergence. The analysis is based on a set of 21 indicators; most of them are headline indicators on the Social Scoreboard of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The findings reveal that, despite the negative effect of the 2008 economic crisis, upward convergence trends have been restored in most of the indicators examined.
Experts on Inclusive labour markets
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Carlos Vacas‑Soriano
Senior research managerCarlos Vacas Soriano is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He works on topics related to wage and income inequalities, minimum wages, low pay, job quality, temporary employment and segmentation, and job quality. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2010, he worked as a macroeconomic analyst for the European Commission and as a researcher in European labour markets at the Spanish Central Bank. He holds an MA in European Economic Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and a PhD in Labour Economics from the University of Salamanca (Doctor Europaeus).
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