The European Trade Union Institute

Over recent decades, the nature and organisation of work have been transformed as a result of – among other things – technological developments, institutional reforms and globalisation. This has resulted in more flexible and fragmented labour markets in many advanced economies. Although researchers, employers and employees share the notion that how work and the labour market is organised has radically changed, there is as yet no coherent picture of the implications of these developments, including how these changes relate to – or perhaps even disrupt – established forms of labour market regulation and social protection in Europe.

Fiscal and monetary policies should remain expansionary to ensure that the nascent labour market recovery continues, allowing a quick recovery to pre-crisis employment levels. Fiscal policy should focus on pressing short-term needs, but also on supporting the EU’s transition to tackle challenges of the future, including the climate crisis and digitalisation.

This paper shows that the use of performance pay schemes has risen substantially across Europe from fewer than one-fifth in 2000 up to one-third in 2015, using data from the European Working Conditions Survey and the Structure of Earnings Survey enriched with external contextual data. This increase has been partly driven by technological change and increased openness to trade, particularly through a rising use of bonuses or shares linked directly to firm performance. Institutional factors such as employment protection legislation and collective pay agreement coverage also play an important role. Performance pay may contribute to wage inequality through two channels: (a) workers receiving it generally already have higher earnings and work in high-skilled jobs; and (b) compared to other similar workers in similar positions, those receiving performance pay earn 7 to 9 per cent more. The increase in inequality is not a given, however, as strong employee representation is associated with a more equal distribution of these wage gains.

The introduction of a minimum level of taxation is certainly a step forward. However, care must be taken to ensure that the level and scope are right in order to put an end to tax competition, which is detrimental in both economic and budgetary terms. 

EU competition law imposes limits on the scope of collective labour law, as it precludes self-employed workers from collective bargaining .

The Covid‑19 pandemic is still causing tremendous human suffering, with serious and long-term implications for people’s health, wellbeing and quality of life as well as for the economy, work and employment overall. In this episode, we will be exploring together with Valeria Pulignano how millions of workers especially in the creative industries have been vulnerable to layoffs and income loss. etui.org/ZUc

This database of joint social dialogue documents is a useful tool that makes it possible to analyse the sectoral social partners’ ‘output’. It enables comparisons to be drawn between sectors, their levels of activity, the topics addressed, and even the approach to social dialogue developed by the social partners.

This paper discusses findings from a review of recent literature on support for securing compliance and better practice in occupational safety and health (OSH) in the changing world of work in advanced market economies.

The aim of this research paper is to review the recent emergence on the European scene of the concept of open strategic autonomy and the consequences it may have for EU action.

This working paper is intended to shed light on a pressing issue: the apparent growth-dependency of European welfare states at a time of weak growth prospects and strong criticisms of growth. Indeed, while the notion of going beyond GDP growth is gaining momentum in the European Union, as elsewhere, and seems rational and desirable to a growing number of citizens and policymakers, it might not be feasible. Highlighting a new ‘welfare-growth-transition trilemma’, I first show how European welfare states in the twentieth century were based on a social-economic alliance that was largely blind to mounting environmental challenges that were likely to undermine their financial sustainability. I then explore the link, too often taken for granted, between GDP growth, human well-being and social progress (focusing on employment, inequality and health), and review empirical evidence supporting the growth-dependency of the welfare state hypothesis (focusing on health care and pensions), reaching the conclusion that these relations appear fragile. I then question the need for additional growth in the perspective of climate transition and offer two alternative strategies: progressive social-ecological taxation and social savings induced by environmental policy. I finally insist on the need to turn the welfare state into a ‘social-ecological state’ in the face of the growing human impact of climate change and to a develop social-ecological protection (focusing on old age and heatwaves).