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Topics: Social conditions

  • Factors influencing the job-creation potential of SMEs

    The figure above, derived from Eurofound’s recent report on Job creation in SMEs, illustrates the bundle of factors that determine whether an SME will create jobs – some relating to the company itself (internal) and others relating to the economic and institutional environment in which it operates (external). 
    Several of the elements are interrelated or have an influence on each other. The stre

  • ​Cooperation with EU Fundamental Rights Agency

    Newly appointed Director at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Michael O’Flaherty, visited Eurofound for the first time on 27 May. 
    A meeting with Eurofound’s Deputy Director, Erika Mezger, and other Agency staff included an open exchange on the activities of the network of EU Agencies and discussion on the work of the cluster grouping of Justice and Home Affairs Agencies. 

  • ​New European Platform to tackle undeclared work

    Fairness in the European labour market was the vision evoked by Commissioner Thyssen in her opening speech at the launch of the European Platform to tackle undeclared work on 27 May.
    Aimed at enhancing cooperation in tackling undeclared work, the new European Platform was set up by the European Commission, together with Member States and stakeholders. 
    Eurofound has observer status in the P

  • ​Slow but steady return to employment growth

    Europe has begun to emerge from its prolonged economic slump: in 2014–2015, for instance, over four million new jobs were created in the EU28. Eurofound’s fifth annual European Jobs Monitor report looks at changes in net employment between Q2 2011 and Q2 2015, at Member State level and in the EU overall. 
    It uses a ‘jobs-based’ approach to describe employment shifts quantitatively (how many job

  • ​Studying the impact of digitalisation on work

    A 2014 study from think-tank Bruegel estimates that over the next 20 years, more than 50% of the EU workforce will have their job partly replaced through automation. Advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and mobile robotics are likely to affect low-wage, low-skill sectors that have traditionally been immune from this high-tech automation.
    This is the context of change against w

  • ​A year in the life of Europe

    The Eurofound yearbook 2015: Living and working in Europe has just been published, highlighting research into pivotal social and employment issues in Europe, in a year when Eurofound celebrated the 40th anniversary of its establishment.
    The yearbook describes 12 months of divergent trends in the work and lives of people in Europe. Working conditions of those at work have not, on the whole, been

  • What do Europeans do at work? A task-based analysis: European Jobs Monitor 2016

    Europe has begun to emerge from the prolonged slump caused by the global financial crisis in 2008 and exacerbated by the euro zone single-currency crisis in 2010–2011. In 2014–2015, aggregate employment levels rose faster than at any time since 2008: over four million new jobs were created in the EU28. The fifth annual European Jobs Monitor report looks at employment shifts in the European Union.

  • Going beyond the headlines to find out what it is really like to live and work in Europe

    In this blog piece, originally posted on Social Europe Journal, Eurofound Director Juan Menéndez-Valdés looks the complex and multi-faceted story of what it is to live and work in the European Union of today.
    Brexit dominates political debate, migrants stream through borders, social protection systems are collapsing, changing forms of work are corroding conditions, unemployment levels remain hi

  • Europe sees slow growth in face of economic and social challenges

    Eurofound has published its yearbook for 2015. The report shows that employment in Europe is on a slow growth trajectory after a long period of job loss and economic stagnation, but quality of life has slipped for many Europeans, and poverty is a threat for millions. Download the report: http://bit.ly/LWE2015

  • Misure a sostegno delle start-up giovanili: dall’implementazione alla valutazione

    Cliccare qui per ascoltare la ricercatrice Sara Riso introdurre il nuovo rapporto 
    Il nuovo rapporto di Eurofound ‘misure a sostegno delle start-up giovanili: dall’implementazione alla valutazione’ offre una mappatura della varietà delle misure agevolative a favore delle start-up giovanili e rivisita in modo critico i risultati che emergono da valutazioni di tali interventi volte a stabilire la

  • Evidence-based youth entrepreneurship policies

    There is no shortage of start-up support measures for young people in the EU. However, a new report from Eurofound warns policymakers that the failure to conduct more robust policy impact evaluations carries the risk of delivering ineffective interventions and wasting public money. 
    The report, Start-up support for young people in the EU: From implementation to evaluation, points to many shortf

  • Annual meeting of Eurofound’s correspondents

    A key element of Eurofound’s work is the research conducted at national level by its network of European correspondents, operating in all 28 EU Member States and in Norway. The work of these correspondents supports Eurofound’s research activities – in particular, the work of its observatories: the European Observatory of Working Life (EurWORK) and the European Monitoring Centre on Change (EMCC). <

  • Wage boost for low-paid workers in UK and Ireland

    ​A national living wage came into force in the UK on 1 April, meaning that employers are now required to pay employees aged 25 and over at least GBP 7.20 (€9.02) an hour.

  • Looking ahead to the next four-year programme

    Eurofound’s Programming Document 2017–2020, adopted by the Agency’s Governing Board, will set the template for all of its activities over the next four years.

  • Preventing trafficking of labour in Europe

    New data on the highly topical issue of preventing trafficking of labour will be presented to MEPs at a working lunch in Brussels on 27 April, with the launch of a new report from Eurofound.

  • The importance of collective bargaining in establishing working time in Europe

    In this blog piece Eurofound Research Officer Jorge Cabrita looks at the key role of collective bargaining in establishing EU working time standards. This blog is a re-post from Social Europe, to view the original click here. 
    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 devel

  • New challenges could disrupt working time stability in Europe

    (Dublin, Ireland): Working time has remained relatively stable in the 21st century but socio-demographic challenges and the ubiquitous nature of new technologies may see significant changes in working time in the near future, according to a new report from Eurofound, the EU Agency based in Dublin. Working time developments in the 21st century reveals, for the first time, the development of worki

  • The rise of temporary contracts in Europe

    More than 1 in 10 employees in the EU are employed on temporary contracts, but a majority of them would prefer a permanent contract. Temporary contracts help employers to manage their labour demand, but there are downsides for employees, such as job insecurity and lower pay.
    Temporary employment has been rising across many European countries for at least three decades. This is largely the resul

  • New Article: Statutory minimum wages in the EU 2016

    Eurofound has published a new article on the statutory minimum wage levels in Europe. This article provides an overview of the minimum wage rates as of 1 January 2016, explains how they were set, and presents relevant discussions on minimum wages at national level.

  • The Case For Universal Support For European Families

    In this blog piece Daphne Ahrendt, Research Manager at Eurofound, analyses the new Families in the Economic Crisis report. She explains how the shift towards means tested support in Europe could be cutting off vital resources for struggling families.

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