While arrangements for wage setting remain the competence of the social partners in line with national industrial relations practices, increasingly they are becoming part of a coordinated approach to macroeconomic policies in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Eurofound publishes a unique database on collective wage bargaining levels and outcomes in all EU Member States over the past decade.
In the midst of Europe’s greatest recession, 40% of all EU companies have difficulties finding workers with the right skills. For innovative companies, this is even more challenging. This emerges from Eurofound’s third European Company Survey (ECS), launched in Brussels on 26 November 2013. The European Company Survey (ECS) maps what is happening in companies across the European Union.
While life satisfaction increased marginally across the European Union between 2007 and 2011, happiness and optimism levels have fallen and perceived social exclusion has increased, indicating a decline in overall well-being in many European countries. Eurofound’s new report is the first in a series of reports which covers trends in quality of life in Europe over the past decade.
