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European Pillar of Social Rights
The EU institutions jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017, followed by an action plan for its implementation in March 2021. The initiative sets out 20 principles aimed at ‘delivering new and effective rights for citizens’. The key principles are structured around three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. The Pillar serves as the EU’s compass for achieving better living and working conditions and supporting the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen to our Eurofound Talks podcast with European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, about implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and making Europe a better, fairer, greener and more digital place to live and work.
Mary McCaughey is joined by Eurofound Executive Director Ivailo Kalfin and Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, to look at the political, social and economic drivers in...
From January to June 2024, Eurofound supports the work of Belgium's presidency of the Council of the EU, providing valuable research results on specific topics linked with the presidency priorities.
From July to December 2023, Eurofound supported the work of Spain's presidency of the Council of the EU, providing valuable research results on specific topics linked with the presidency priorities.
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EU context
On 14 January 2020, the European Commission published its Communication setting out its social policy ambitions and describing the challenges to be overcome in the EU. Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights will be crucial to achieving a strong social Europe and bringing fairness to the daily lives of citizens. It is the social strategy to ensure that the transitions in the Commission’s objectives around climate neutrality, digitalisation and demographic change are socially just and fair.
On 4 March 2021, the Commission presented its action plan to fully implement the Pillar. The action plan sets out its ambition for a strong social Europe that focuses on jobs and skills and paves the way for a fair, inclusive and resilient recovery from the crisis. It turns the 20 principles into concrete measures and actions to ensure that the Pillar becomes a reality for citizens in their daily lives, setting new 2030 targets for employment, skills and social protection.
The updated Social Scoreboard, accompanying the Pillar, aims to monitor the performance of Member States in the employment and social field along the various dimensions outlined in the Pillar to check progress in its implementation.
This is about a recovery that creates new #jobs. It is about equipping people with the #skills they need. We will set ourselves ambitious targets on jobs and skills.
The impact of COVID-19 has moved public health up the EU social policy agenda. As the EU directs its efforts towards establishing a European Health Union to guard against future...
I över tio år har osäkerheten inför framtiden ökat i de flesta delar av EU. Många människor anser att samhället försämras, vilket har gett upphov till en allmän pessimism. Finns...
This programming document describes Eurofound’s planned work over the programming period 2021–2024. It sets out the policy and institutional context for the programme, describes the multiannual programme for the four-year...
On 9 May, the Conference on the Future of Europe will get underway. Floated well before the COVID-19 outbreak, its timing in the wake of the seismic shifts precipitated by...
The EU strives for the upward convergence of its Member States, where their performance improves and gaps between them decrease. Nearly a decade after the Great Recession, the COVID-19 crisis...
This compendium of articles presents a snapshot of some of Eurofound’s most recent research, and highlights important 21st-century trends in quality of life and working conditions throughout the EU. It...
3 mars 2020
Publication
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Ongoing work
Infographic March 2022
Eurofound will be an essential knowledge source for the EU institutions, Member States and social partners in implementing the initiatives of the Pillar in 2021 and beyond. The Agency has generated a wealth of evidence on topics central to the Pillar including minimum wages, gender equality, youth employment, skills and training, platform work, an ageing society and social protection.
A compendium of articles organised around the European Commission’s six priorities for Europe presents a snapshot of some of the research areas linked with the Pillar; important questions for the EU institutions over the next decade; and trends that we have observed in quality of life and working conditions throughout the EU.
Eurofound’s 2021–2024 work programme sets out a schedule of projects that will provide valuable insights for realising the goals of the Pillar.
Ongoing research on developments in minimum wages across the EU Member States reports on how they are set and how they have developed in nominal and real terms. This is a topic where Eurofound has a well-established track record.
Eurofound research topics include pay transparency in Europe, women in management, funding of female entrepreneurship, discrimination against men at work, and gender equality at work.
Eurofound has almost a decade of findings to support this topic, analysing the population of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs), the adverse consequences of this and estimated loss to the EU economy, as well as policy approaches to address long-term youth unemployment.
Extensive research about skills in the European workplace includes information on training, work organisation and job design, and skills mismatches. Skills and training needs are also featuring in research on digitalisation and platform work.
Eurofound has extensively mapped measures to retain and reintegrate older workers into the labour market, such as flexible working options offering more sustainable employment. Research on work after retirement in the EU highlights the need to tackle gender income gaps.
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey analyses the persistent challenges to certain age groups and raises issues around the effectiveness of social protection.
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...
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...
This working paper investigates the practical implementation of the European Works Council (EWC) Directive at company level. It explores the challenges faced by existing EWCs and provides examples of solutions identified and remaining issues from the point of view of both workers and management. In
Covid-19-pandemin har förstärkt ojämlikheten i samhället i Europa, bland annat genom bristande jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män på flera viktiga områden. Denna rapport ger en överblick över jämställdhetsbristerna före covid-19-krisen och beskriver hur pandemin har påverkat könsklyftorna. I
In collecting information on essential services, the European Commission requested Eurofound to provide input on certain aspects of existing and planned measures in the Member States to improve access to essential services in reference to Principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights. For thi
I denna rapport analyseras den senaste utvecklingen och framväxande metoder på området för kollektivförhandlingar och resultatet av dessa, främst inom den privata sektorn. Rapporten undersöker system för kollektivförhandlingar i tio EU-medlemsstater och bygger på fall som identifierats genom
Despite the well-known adverse effects of regular long working hours on workers’ health, well-being and performance, many workers in the EU continue to work beyond their normal hours. Part of this additional working time is classified as overtime. This report takes a comparative overview of how
This paper provides a context for the questions to be explored within the Foundation Forum 2022. Europe is emerging from the COVID-19 crisis having managed to protect its economy in the face of a major shock and prevent mass unemployment. However, challenges remain. While the Member States up to now
Under senare år har det, förutom under vissa periodiska toppar, förekommit en allmän minskning av stridsåtgärder i medlemsstaterna. Under covid-19-pandemin har denna trend fortsatt, och de största arbetsmarknadskonflikterna relaterade till covid-19 har föga förvånande varit kopplade till hälso- och
Uppåtriktad konvergens är centralt för unionsprojektet. Medlemsstaterna och deras medborgare röstade ja till EU, eftersom de förväntar sig att deras medlemskap kommer att leda till balanserat ekonomiskt välstånd och sociala framsteg för länderna. De ökande skillnader mellan medlemsstaterna som
En av de mest iögonfallande förändringarna under det senaste halvseklet har varit den enorma ökningen av kvinnornas deltagande på arbetsmarknaden. Två av tre nya nettojobb som skapats under de senaste två decennierna i EU har gått till kvinnor. Samtidigt har en kraftigt stigande sysselsättningsgrad
This report analyses and compares the industrial relations landscape in several sectors and activities that form a public service cluster across the 27 EU Member States and the UK – altogether employing over 57 million workers and representing 25% of the total workforce in the economy. It is based
Mary McCaughey is joined by Eurofound Executive Director Ivailo Kalfin and Ivan Krastev, Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, to look at the political, social and economic drivers in Europe and how they might influence voters at the ballot box in the European Parliament elections in June.
Eurofound presentation to the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Ivailo Kalfin, Executive Director, Eurofound, 24 January 2023.
During his visit to Dublin, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit talks about using the European Pillar of Social Rights to make Europe a better, fairer, greener and more digital place to live and work. War had just commenced in Ukraine but we were hopeful of a solution. In
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a surge in telework, with dramatic increases in the number of employees working from home (teleworking) in many European countries. What for many employees started out as a mandatory move seems to have transformed into a preference among the majority for part-time or
Eurofound welcomed Ivailo Kalfin to his new role as Executive Director on 1 June. After one month in the job, he reflects on the challenges facing the EU, how they will impact on the work of Eurofound and his priorities for shaping the Agency over the next five years.
Working remotely: An overview of trends, opportunities, challenges and risks 9 March 2021 Presentation by Irene Mandl, Head of unit - Employment, Eurofound
Labour market regulation, effectiveness of legal rights and obligations, and safety and health at work 9 March 2021 Presentation by Barbara Gerstenberger, Head of unit - Working life, Eurofound
The European Commission continues to consult on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, with a focus on assessing the EU social acquis, reflecting on new trends in work patterns and societies, and getting feedback on the outline of Pillar itself. Eurofound has generated a wealth
Spiralling housing costs are causing despair across the EU. The situation is making people anxious that they will lose their accommodation or become homeless; they may become overburdened financially or forced to live in substandard accommodation; and many young people are unable to leave home. Whil
The dawn of 2022 brought muted optimism to a Europe beginning to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the progress of vaccination programmes worldwide brought hope. Government and EU support during the pandemic had kept unemployment at bay, averting the widescale collapse of businesses. In step wi
Today is Europe Day, and one hundred young people from Ireland and Ukraine will be marking the event at Eurofound, in peaceful south Dublin. Europe Day has traditionally been seen as a celebration of peace and unity in Europe, but, unfortunately, it must be marked differently this year. Europe Day 2
The European Pillar of Social Rights states that ‘everyone has the right to affordable long-term care services of good quality, in particular home-care and community-based services’. Taking a step to make this principle a reality, the European Commission is currently preparing a European Care Strate
With the arrival of the month of May, the 2022 European Semester Spring Package is anticipated soon. After a transformative year in 2021, which saw the launch of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) under NextGenerationEU, the European Semester cycle has resumed its role as the reference frame
When it comes to Europe’s COVID-19 recovery and its aspiration to build back a more resilient society, the so-called green and digital transitions have dominated EU policy discussions. And as Eurofound made preparations for the 2022 Foundation Forum – a unique occasion for high-level debate on the s
While the number of employees earning the minimum wage has increased across Europe over the last decade, spurred by significant minimum wage hikes, a clear gender divide emerges, with minimum wage earners more likely to be women. Minimum wage earners are also more likely to live in materially depriv
Following the declines in employment rates and working hours across Europe in 2020, economies began to show signs of recovery during the first quarter of 2021. The gradual rekindling of economic activity has led to a surge in demand for workers and reawakened concerns over labour shortages. Difficul
Decision-makers approached minimum wage setting for 2021 cautiously due to the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Despite this, nominal statutory minimum wages rose in most Member States and the UK, although at lower rates than in recent years.
On 9 May, the Conference on the Future of Europe will get underway. Floated well before the COVID-19 outbreak, its timing in the wake of the seismic shifts precipitated by the pandemic, and its implementation alongside the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, means that the outcomes could b
