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  • Trainee forklift driver doing a practical training course. Image: © Darius SUL/Adobe Stock

    EU lack of labour won't be solved by skills alone: Improving job quality is key

    While an initiative such as the European Year of Skills is welcome, and improving skills can certainly go some way to help to address labour shortages, it is not a silver bullet. To address these challenges effectively, what is needed is a clear grasp of the drivers behind shortages in specific sectors and occupations and the policy context.

  • Image © Тарас Нагирняк/Adobe Stock

    Regulating platform work in Europe: A work in progress

    Eurofound research has demonstrated that existing initiatives often fail to provide both platform workers and platform companies with the regulatory predictability and legal certainty needed for ensuring good working conditions and a level playing field.

  • Trust in national institutions is falling: Data behind the decline

    Trust in national institutions is falling: Data behind the decline

    Trust in national institutions has declined across the EU over the past two years. Driven by increasingly difficult economic circumstances and unreliable news sources, even people who previously expressed higher trust levels – such as those in financially secure positions – have become less trusting. We take a closer look at e-survey data to explore this decline in trust.

  • Image © daniilvolkov/Adobe Stock

    Two worlds of income support during COVID-19

    The employment toll of COVID-19 has been stark in Europe, and it could have been even greater had it not been for the adoption of unprecedented assistance measures in all Member States, supported by the European Union. But have these policies benefited different groups in the labour market equally, or have they cemented existing inequalities in access to support?

  • COVID-19: A tale of two service sectors

    COVID-19: A tale of two service sectors

    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 working from home; whereas client-facing service workers have borne the brunt of the lockdowns and the steep declines in demand for in-person services in restaurants, hotels, leisure and the arts.

  • Image © Shutterstock/Aunt Clausen

    Restructuring: Do unions still matter?

    Trade unions in many EU Member States face the issue of declining membership. This is a fundamental challenge for organised labour, but it is premature to speak about the redundancy unions: when it comes to important decisions affecting the workplace, restructuring being one, trade unions remain a powerful mechanism of employee voice.

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