This Working Paper investigates links between employment changes and both sectoral developments and changes in earnings levels in six EU member states. The paper challenges the view that a remedy focusing on reducing employment protection and pay levels leads to higher levels of employment. It... Find out more

This Working Paper provides a clear but critical assessment of the EU’s process of simplification and qualitative improvement of the ‘acquis’, a process originally known as ‘Better Law-making’, subsequently as ‘Smart regulation’ and, in its latest incarnation, as ‘Regulatory Fitness and Performance... Find out more

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in Greece and Portugal in the areas of old-age pensions and labour market policies and shows that, compared to earlier economic governance instruments, the MoUs have entailed much greater interference in setting... Find out more

This report by ETUI researcher Magda Bernaciak, Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick (University of London) and Richard Hyman (London School of Economics) looks at how the diversity of European ‘trade unionisms’ leads to a diversity of challenges. It outlines several imaginative initiatives and innovations... Find out more

This paper proposes a conceptualization of social dumping and applies it to an analysis of the EU integration process. Building on recent contributions in the fields of economic theory, economic sociology and institutional political economy, it defines social dumping as the practice, undertaken by... Find out more

Since 2008, Europe has been affected by the deepest crisis since the 1930s. This has had a farreaching impact on the economic and social situation of millions of European workers. The most obvious impact has been the dramatic increase in mass unemployment. Today, there are more than 26 million... Find out more

During the last five years training and education policies have received strong support at European and international levels. Emphasis has been placed on Initial Vocational Education and Training (IVET) and apprenticeships – which enable workers to gain a foothold in the labour market – and on... Find out more

This new working paper is intended to map reforms of employment protection law in the member states with the aim of addressing these legal changes in the context of the crisis, but also in the context of the deregulation agenda of the European Commission.The report critically addresses the large... 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

In April 2013, the Council adopted a Recommendation for a European Youth Guarantee (EYG). This background analysis outlines the EYG and discusses possible challenges to its success. Further, it provides an overview of the implementation of the EYG and the existence of recent labour market policies... Find out more