All chapters of Social policy in the EU: state of play 2020 consider the consequences of the unfolding public health crisis. Covid‑19’s hijacking of the book had important implications for the contributors, whom we asked not only to analyse key developments in the EU social agenda during 2019 but... Find out more

In 2020, country-specific recommendations (CSRs) have shifted more markedly in favour of strengthening workers' digital skills and providing adequate social protection. This change of focus has conferred a rather social outlook to the 2020 European Semester cycle. For the first time since the launch... Find out more

The European project is in crisis. The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom is a spectacular symptom of this. However, since the 1957 Treaty of Rome, the close integration of the Member States has always been a priority of the European Union. An economic integration was often promoted at the expense of... Find out more

This collected volume aims to inform and advance the debate on how to achieve a more social and sustainable Europe. Its four chapters and a conclusion address the nature of Europe, the future of the European Union and the political and economic development of the continent. The book argues that... Find out more

Benchmarking Working Europe, the annual stock-take of European economic, labour market and social affairs is published today by the European Trade Union Institute. This year’s report calls for action to stimulate investment, as well as reforms to fiscal rules to allow policy to play a more active... Find out more

This book focuses on the economic factors which have impacted on the low-wage economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), over the past twenty years. In this period CEE economies were mostly driven by low-wage based foreign direct investment (FDI). Earlier publications made the case that the... Find out more

China’s global outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased substantially over the last decade, with Europe as a key destination. The upsurge in Chinese outward FDI indicates a rebalancing of global political-economic relations, with China and its companies acquiring new roles and gaining... Find out more

This 2017 edition of Benchmarking working Europe focuses on the question 'overcoming cleavages across the EU?'. It analyses in four chapters and with the help of 58 visual graphs latest trends and outcomes of European policies in the areas of macro-economics, wages and collective bargaining, labour... Find out more

This book develops a new approach for estimating the way in which labour costs reflect cost competitiveness. Conventionally, unit labour costs (a standard measure of cost competitiveness) are calculated as indices, without regard to the relative levels of wage costs. To remedy this, the authors... Find out more

Structural reforms are increasingly at the core of the European and national agenda. But what are they? And what are the main factors shaping their content? This analysis of the structural reforms adopted between 2008 and 2015 in five European Union (EU) countries – the Czech Republic, Finland... Find out more