This policy brief examines issues surrounding recent cuts in pensions provision for workers in arduous and hazardous jobs (WAHJ). Such workers have historically enjoyed better provision because of the strong possibility of them having to take early retirement, but historic arrangements are now under... Find out more

This new edited volume on occupational welfare in Europe is based on research projects coordinated by the European Social Observatory (OSE) It focuses on recent developments in the field of pensions and unemployment-related schemes in nine countries: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands... Find out more

The European Union has gone through a crucial period marked by growing anti-EU sentiments and the difficult implementation of its largely renewed socio-economic governance. After years of in-depth innovations and the hope of reinvigorating the E(M)U social dimension, European institutions have... Find out more

This working paper assesses the impact of the economic crisis on European pension systems and provides a comparative overview of the measures imposed on European pension systems, together with their effects. Focussing on eight countries (representative of different pension models) the study shows... Find out more

The assumed benefits of diversification – reducing the reliance of individuals on one form of retirement insurance – currently inform policy advice on pension reforms. The diversification argument also often justifies reforms of old age pensions, including their privatization. However, the merits of... Find out more

2010 was a critical year for the European Union (EU) in at least three major respects. First of all, many EU countries started showing signs of increased financial stress, while the eurozone began to be affected by a true debt crisis extending well beyond the highly publicised case of Greece... Find out more

This working paper is an update of the 2009/3 ETUI Working Paper that was itself an abridged and revised version of the introductory chapter of the book EU Labour Migration since Enlargement: Trends, Impacts and Policies . The book, published by Ashgate in May 2009, was edited by the present authors... Find out more

The paper analyses the instability of paradigmatic pension reforms enacted in Croatia and Hungary in the late 1990s. Both countries' policy makers unilaterally overhauled the respective retirement systems, but the partial, incoherent or fictive institutional replacement steered the new arrangements... Find out more

This Working Paper sheds light on the multi-dimensional and changing interplay between state, market institutions and social partners in relation to supplementary pension schemes, the importance of which is growing across Europe. The paper offers a lucid analysis of the responsibility shared among... Find out more

Reliance on private retirement pensions is on the increase both at Member State level, via the spread of quasi-mandatory occupational plans, and at EU level, as a result of initiatives including the IORP Directive. This Working Paper analyses the legislative and market trends that underpin this... Find out more