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Arbetsmarknadsrelationer

Fackföreningar, arbetsgivarorganisationer och offentliga myndigheter spelar alla en viktig roll i relationerna mellan arbetsmarknadens parter. De ingår i ett system som verkar på europeisk, nationell och regional nivå, liksom på bransch- och företagsnivå. På senare år har tekniken och arbetsformerna utvecklats snabbt i takt med en föränderlig ekonomisk omvärld, och systemen för arbetsmarknadsrelationer har ställts inför stora utmaningar.

Mot den bakgrunden lanserade Europeiska kommissionen 2015 en ”nystart” för den europeiska sociala dialogen. I ett gemensamt uttalande i juni 2016 framhöll kommissionen, Europeiska unionens råd och arbetsmarknadens parter den europeiska sociala dialogens grundläggande roll som en viktig del av EU:s utformning av sysselsättningspolitiken och den sociala politiken.

Topic

Recent updates

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This 2024 annual review of minimum wages provides a synopsis of minimum wage setting during 2023 in the EU27 and Norway. It reports in detail on the processes and outcomes...

26 juni 2024
Publication
Research report

EU context

Eurofounds arbete

Eurofound har under 40 år utvecklats som ett centrum för expertis när det gäller att bevaka och analysera trender i arbetsmarknadsrelationerna. Detta innefattar även kopplingar mellan de sociala dialogerna på europeisk och nationell nivå. Med hjälp av kunskaperna från sitt nätverk av europeiska medarbetare i 28 EU-medlemsstater och Norge har Eurofound fångat upp utvecklingen i alla medlemsstater och i EU som helhet. 

Viktiga bidrag

Eurofound har tagit fram en rad jämförande analyser, artiklar och fallstudier i EU:s 28 medlemsstater och Norge på området för arbetsmarknadsrelationer, samt skapat olika databaser för närliggande ämnen som uppdateras regelbundet.

I en färsk studie kartläggs och diskuteras centrala dimensioner och indikatorer som är relevanta för arbetsmarknadsrelationerna i 2000-talets Europa. Ett annat forskningsområde är hur arbetsmarknadens parter i EU och Norge har utforskat nya ämnen, verktyg och innovativa tillvägagångssätt för att möta de många nya politiska, juridiska och sociala utmaningar som har uppstått de senaste åren.

Löner och arbetstider är områden som ständigt är aktuella och som ses över årligen. En del av uppdateringen på löneområdet fokuserar på lagstadgade minimilöner i EU medan en annan handlar om kollektiva löneförhandlingar.

Eurofound har sedan 2006, på uppdrag av Europeiska kommissionen, genomfört studier om representativiteten hos de europeiska sektoriella arbetsmarknadsparternas organisationer.

Resurser

Rapportering om arbetslivets utveckling

Eurofound tillhandahåller systematiska och jämförbara uppgifter om nationella system för arbetsmarknadsrelationer och arbetslivets utveckling genom sina verktyg för bevakning och rapportering och med hjälp av bidragen från sitt nätverk av europeiska medarbetare i de 28 EU-medlemsstaterna och Norge.

 

Key outputs

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This report examines the average weekly working hours across Europe in 2021 and 2022. It covers important developments resulting from legislative reforms in collective bargaining at national or sectoral level...

24 oktober 2023
Publication
Research report
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Den årliga översynen av minimilöner för 2023 utarbetades mot bakgrund av en aldrig tidigare skådad inflation i Europa. Även om detta ledde till kraftiga ökningar av de nominella lönerna i...

29 juni 2023
Publication
Research report

Current and ongoing research

 

Other ongoing work

    • Social dialogue in companies, particularly linkages that can be drawn between national and EU level, to better understand of cooperation mechanisms used in decision-making and implementation in multinational companies
    • Exploration of the role of national social partners in the European semester and analysis of quality and effectiveness of their involvement
    • Summary of discussions on capacity-building social dialogue to support a meaningful and effective social dialogue
    • A flagship report on industrial relations covering topics related to both social dialogue and working life developments, including updates on collectively agreed pay
    • Representativeness studies on a variety of sectors to provide the European Commission required information to assess the representativeness of European sectoral social partner organisations
    • Highlights of recent developments of selected features of working life in so called topical updates, with one featuring statutory minimum wages
    • Updated time series in EurWORK database of wages, working time and collective disputes
    • Updated time series and update on developments in collectively agreed pay
    • Exploring the feasibility for an Industrial Action Monitor

    Eurofound expert(s)

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    Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and focuses on comparative industrial relations, social dialogue and collective bargaining...

    Research manager,
    Working life research unit
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    Mária Sedláková is a research officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She is responsible for drafting overview reports for sectoral representativeness studies, management...

    Research officer,
    Working life research unit
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    Victoria Cojocariu is a research support officer for the representativeness studies in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She is responsible for the management of the research...

    Research support officer,
    Working life research unit
    Publications results (517)

    Previous Eurofound research has identified four key dimensions of industrial relations: industrial democracy, industrial competitiveness, social justice, and quality of work and employment. This report seeks to build a set of indicators to measure country performance in industrial relations in terms

    21 December 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the contract catering sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective

    13 December 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the hotels, restaurants and café (HORECA) sector.

    13 December 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the commerce sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in

    30 November 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the inland water transport sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective

    29 November 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the steel sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in

    15 November 2018

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the metal sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in

    15 November 2018

    Annual review of working life 2017 is part of a series of annual reviews published by Eurofound and provides an overview of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The annual review collates information based on reports from Eurofound’s

    22 October 2018

    This report examines the development of collectively agreed pay in conjunction with the development of actual compensation (‘wages’) and labour productivity in real terms. It applies both a longer-term perspective (the early 2000s to 2017) and a short-term perspective, with a focus on the outcomes

    10 October 2018

    The study looks at the articulation and the complex multi-level links between European and national levels of social dialogue. It examines the factors that facilitate as well as those that hinder the successful engagement of national social partners and their ability to promote their own interests

    13 July 2018

    Online resources results (1688)
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    Minimum wages in Belgium

    Minimum wages in Belgium exist at national and sectoral levels and are the outcome of collective bargaining. The national minimum wage typically lags behind sectoral minimum wages in Belgium, and policymakers have been concerned about the relative decrease in the national minimum wage compared with

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    Cyprus introduces a national statutory minimum wage

    On 31 August 2022, a new decree on minimum wages was published in Cyprus after a long and arduous process of negotiations and social dialogue. The ministerial decree, which came into effect on 1 January 2023, established a national minimum wage in Cyprus for the first time, a groundbreaking and cont

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    Minimum wage debate in Italy

    Italy has no minimum wage prescribed by law. Minimum wages are set through collective agreements at sectoral level, and the majority of employees in Italy are covered by a collective bargaining agreement in which wages are set. This article outlines the latest positions (2023) of the government and

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    Measures to lessen the impact of the inflation and energy crisis on citizens

    As governments across the EU continue to implement policies to support citizens and businesses in the face of rising food and energy prices caused by the COVID-19 crisis and intensified by the war in Ukraine, this article summarises the policy responses as reported in Eurofound’s EU PolicyWatch

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    Minimum wage hikes struggle to offset inflation

    As the EU economy advanced its recovery following the pandemic, the high rate of inflation throughout 2022 meant that wage setting actors made their decisions under a cloud of uncertainty. While nominal increases in statutory minimum wages reached an all-time high, minimum wage workers in most count

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    First responses to cushion the impact of inflation on citizens

    Although the worldwide pandemic situation had already disrupted supply chains and triggered increases in energy and food prices in 2021, the situation deteriorated in 2022 with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Governments throughout the EU had already started to intervene with policy measures in a

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    Policies to support EU companies affected by the war in Ukraine

    As the war in Ukraine has intensified, the cost of food, raw materials and energy prices, already high due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has continued to rise substantially. Ahead of coordinated action at EU level, as agreed by EU energy ministers on 9 September 2022, governments across the EU have

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    Minimum wages in 2022: Bigger hikes this time around

    The first overview of minimum wage setting for 2022 shows that, while some negotiations are still ongoing, virtually all EU Member States have increased their nominal statutory rates. Compared to last year, when most countries settled for cautious increases against a background of deep uncertainty

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    Mixed impacts of COVID-19 on social dialogue and collective bargaining in 2020

    ​​​​​​​A first analysis of developments in working life in 2020 shows that the COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on social dialogue and collective bargaining in the EU, Norway and the UK, albeit to varying degrees. While in some countries, standard procedures were by and large maintained

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    Minimum wages in 2021: Most countries settle for cautious increase

    ​​​​​​​Despite the unusually tough economic and labour market conditions, most EU Member States made nominal and real increases to their minimum wages in 2020. This is what a first overview of recent minimum wage developments reveals. Some countries lived up to earlier promises or pre-agreements


    Blogs results (18)
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    The workings of industrial relations are constantly evolving. In this blog piece, Eurofound authors Christian Welz and Ricardo Rodriguez Contreras discuss a tool that Eurofound has developed to enable this process of change to be monitored and analysed, enabling stakeholders in Member States to asse

    28 mars 2018
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    Measures to promote gender pay transparency haven’t been delivered yet in half of Europe – making EU level legislative action to speed up implementation an option. In this blog, originally posted in Social Europe, Christine Aumayr-Pintar details what we know about the measures from countries that

    28 februari 2018
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    Average unemployment rates continue to fall across Europe, employment is growing again in middle-paying jobs, offshoring is on the decline, the proportion of routine jobs is falling, and efforts to make work more sustainable have borne fruit.

    6 juni 2017
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    The growth in average (nominal) pay of employees has accelerated in recent years in EU countries after a slump following the economic crisis. Similar developments show up in data on collectively agreed wages. However, higher wage growth figures do not automatically mean that all employees benefit

    27 februari 2017
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    Europe has gone through significant economic change over the past decade. Businesses have had to manage the challenges posed by the financial crisis, globalisation and a rapidly changing labour market. Eurofound's new report Win-win arrangements: Innovative measures through social dialogue at compan

    3 oktober 2016
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    On the eve of the 11th International Labour and Employment Relations Association (ILERA) European Congress, we look at the issue of representativeness in Europe, and how ensuring that workers and employers are fairly represented at EU-level is an important aspect of European democracy.

    7 september 2016
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    The European Union (EU) has strong legislation in place that protects workers from being exploited and also enables businesses to engage in fair competition. Workers are mobile and can move freely within the EU single market across borders – without being dependent upon traffickers. Yet, the latest

    3 maj 2016
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    ​Nowadays we all know that long or excessive working hours may have serious negative impacts on a person’s health and wellbeing. Eurofound‘s new report 'Working time developments in the 21st century' suggests that if working time standards are mainly left to legislation or to be set unilaterally by

    4 mars 2016

    Upcoming publications results (8)

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the graphical industry. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation

    July 2025

    This report reviews the quality of the national social partners’ involvement in the implementation of the reforms and investments shaping the digital and green transition in the context of national policymaking. These reforms and investments stem mainly from the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

    March 2025

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the extractive industries sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective par

    December 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the construction sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participatio

    December 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the chemical sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participation in

    December 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the road transport sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effective participat

    December 2024

    This study provides information allowing for an assessment of the representativeness of the actors involved in the European sectoral social dialogue committee for the postal and courier activities sector. Their relative representativeness legitimises their right to be consulted, their role and effec

    November 2024

    This publication comprises individual country reports on developments in working life in each of the 27 EU Member States and Norway in 2023, based on national research and survey results.

    June 2024

    Disclaimer

    When freely submitting your request, you are consenting Eurofound in handling your personal data to reply to you. Your request will be handled in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data. More information, please read the Data Protection Notice.