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Unemployment

Long-term unemployment, youth unemployment, and the increase in underemployed or involuntary part-time workers remains a concern in many Member States. Unemployment, and especially long-term unemployment, increases a person's risk of social exclusion, poverty and inequality, and adds to the cost of social services and public finances. According to the European Pillar of Social Rights, unemployed people have the right to personalised, continuous and consistent support, including adequate unemployment benefits of reasonable duration.

Topic

Recent updates

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This background paper focuses on one important aspect of social protection: unemployment benefits, both first tier (usually contributory) and lower tier (predominantly tax-based, non-contributory and means-tested). Unemployment benefits help to...

2 Φεβρουάριος 2024
Publication
Customised report
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Presentation made at the 'Informal meeting of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers (EPSCO)' by Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director, Eurofound and Prof. dr. Paul Schoukens, Full Professor, KU Leuven. Belgian Presidency...

Presentation

Data

EU PolicyWatch database (measures to support unemployed people)

Eurofound expert(s)

John Hurley

John Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He is responsible for the European...

Senior research manager,
Employment research unit
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Hans Dubois is a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. His research topics include housing, over-indebtedness, healthcare, long-term care, social...

Senior research manager,
Social policies research unit
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Massimiliano Mascherini has been Head of the Social Policies unit at Eurofound since October 2019. He joined Eurofound in 2009 as a research manager, designing and coordinating...

Head of Unit,
Social policies research unit
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Tadas Leončikas is Head of the Employment unit at Eurofound since September 2022. Prior to this, he was a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit, managing the European...

Head of Unit,
Employment research unit
Publications results (19)

The European Pillar of Social Rights is designed to act as a compass for a renewed process of upward convergence among Member States towards better working and living conditions. It is accompanied by a Social Scoreboard to monitor the progress made by Member States. This policy brief presents the

10 December 2019

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

25 September 2019

Feelings of insecurity in several dimensions of life are widespread in the EU population, even among those who are materially well-off. Policymakers need to take these insecurities into account to better understand the concerns and dissatisfactions of citizens.

09 October 2018

Labour market slack is the shortfall between the volume of work desired by workers and the actual volume of work available. The most important indicator of labour slack is the unemployment rate, but an exclusive focus on this fails to take account of the four-fifths of the jobless population who are

18 July 2017

This policy brief highlights findings on a specific topic from Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) that is of particular interest from a policy perspective. It brings results of the analysis of these data together with evidence from other Eurofound projects to formulate a number of

14 June 2014

This issue of Foundation Focus looks at the state of play of the European labour market and what governments, social partners and companies are doing to overcome the crisis. Over the last few years, many jobs have been lost, and mass unemployment has become the reality in some Member States

19 March 2013

Chronic illness and disability play a key role in unemployment and exclusion from the workplace. When reading about ‘people with disabilities’, most people think of people born with an obvious disability or who have acquired a disability through illness or injury later in life. However, in relation

19 January 2010

Cases of bankruptcy generally have more serious consequences for the workers who lose their jobs as a result since, unlike other cases of restructuring, the company concerned might have little or no possibility of providing support, either financial or practical. The number of bankruptcy cases has

08 December 2009

This report explores the consequences of mergers and acquisitions for the companies and employees involved, as well as for the wider economy, on the basis of in-depth company case studies in 25 EU Member States and Norway. The study aims to summarise the features of the mergers or acquisitions

24 February 2009

Online resources results (67)

Widespread protests by unemployed people: towards a new form of social movement?

In December 1997 and January 1998, France has seen a growing wave of protests by unemployed people, which has grown from specific local actions into a nationwide movement. The demands of the protesters have challenged both the Government and the trade unions which co-manage the unemployment

Recent debates on pay policy in Germany

Since the late 1980s German collective bargaining has become increasingly overshadowed by growing mass unemployment, leading to a continuing controversy about pay policy and its impact on employment. Many employers' associations, with the support of "neo-liberal" politicians and economists, have

Representing the unemployed: trade unions versus associations of jobless people?

The July 1997 agreement between employers and unions concerning the management of the UNEDIC unemployment insurance funds has been strongly criticised by some associations of unemployed people. The question of the representation of unemployed people, especially within bodies which are jointly

Trade unions present views on employment regulation and social protection

On 1 July 1997 the Greek trade unions made public their positions on one of the themes in the current social dialogue process, /Regulation of forms of employment and social protection: towards the year 2000/. Their positions differ significantly from those of the Government and the employer

Measures to promote youth employment debated

The social partners are engaged in a protracted debate on the ways and means to address a mounting problem of youth unemployment. The best indicator of the extent of the problem is perhaps that on average 2.9% of those aged 15 to 18 years were neither employed nor in school during 1996, while a

The legal position of foreign nationals

On 13 March, after long debate between ministries, trade unions, and provincial governments, the national Government submitted a reform package covering the Arbeitslosenversicherungsgesetz(Unemployment Insurance Act), the Fremdengesetz(Aliens Act), the Aufenthaltsgesetz(Residence Act), the

Proposal to exempt long-term unemployed people from legal minimum wage

The Dutch Government wants to allow employers temporary exemptions from the legal minimum wage [1] (WML- wettelijk minimumloon), and to that end, a bill was submitted to Parliament in 1996. The target group consists of long-term unemployed people aged between 20 and 65. The purpose of the bill is to


Blogs results (9)
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​​​​​​​To date, close to six million workers in the EU have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Many businesses have closed their doors forever or been pushed to the brink, bringing severe financial and psychological hardship to the individuals and families affected. However, the toll of the pandemic c

9 Φεβρουάριος 2021
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The employment fallout of COVID-19 has been a story of two types of service work. Office-based knowledge workers have largely kept their jobs and incomes while participating in the huge and apparently successful ad hoc social experiment in working from home. Client-facing service workers have borne

2 Φεβρουάριος 2021
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​​​​​​​While women appear to be more resilient than men to COVID-19 in terms of health outcomes, that is not the case when it comes to the economic and social fallout. Measures taken by governments to control the spread of the virus are exacerbating gender divides in unemployment, domestic labour an

3 Ιούνιος 2020
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While we now know that the idea that ‘COVID-19 only affects older people’ is fake news, the first weeks of the pandemic have shown that young people are in general more resilient than older people to the disease. But are they also more resilient to its social and economic impacts?

18 Μάιος 2020
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The impact of COVID-19 continues to create chaos in people’s lives across Europe and the world. The economy is heading towards another major dip, and a sense of general insecurity pervades. The daunting challenges confronting health services and projections on the long-term impact of the crisis domi

12 Μάιος 2020
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Europe has weathered a number of storms in recent years, yet despite the Great Recession, the migration crisis and the challenges posed by Brexit, the EU continues on a stable path to economic recovery, closer cooperation and cohesion. However, the legacy of the crisis lives on in the number of youn

3 Μάιος 2018
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In this blog, originally posted in Social Europe, Massimiliano Mascherini looks at the enduring issue of long-term unemployment among young people. Despite considerable improvement in the labour market participation of youth in recent years, the legacy of the crisis is still visible in the substanti

17 Απρίλιος 2018
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In this blog piece, originally published in Social Europe, Eurofound Research Manager Anna Ludwinek looks at the substantial section of the population that is not working and does not figure in unemployment statistics, but retains significant employment potential.

20 Δεκέμβριος 2017
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A key priority for EU policy makers is to combat high levels of youth unemployment. Supporting young people to start a new business is increasingly regarded as a way to achieve this goal. And yet the understanding of what drives the success and failure of youth entrepreneurship policies remains inco

18 Απρίλιος 2016

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