Key points and policy recommendations Despite substantial minimum wage increases, in almost half of the Member States with a statutory minimum wage, these were not sufficient to safeguard the purchasing power of minimum-wage earners in the current cost-of-living crisis. In order to better mitigate... Find out more

Policy recommendations • A critical mass of trade union members, i.e. beyond union activists, are willing to perform less-demanding tasks in support of their union; this is an internal union resource that is currently underutilised. As union tasks differ in terms of effort and time, they should be... Find out more

The central questions and main contextual background explored by this year’s issue of Benchmarking are, at their core, fairly straightforward. Europe is at a crossroads, painfully navigating four transitions at once: a (perhaps less than obvious) economic policy transition best exemplified by the... Find out more

Belgium is one of the few EU-15 countries with no system of involving employee representatives in the strategic management of a company. The post-second World War social pact created extensive institutions for information, consultation and collective bargaining at the company, sector and country... Find out more

The labour market position of the lower skilled is increasingly under pressure in most high income countries. Their bargaining position is declining under the twin pressures of globalisation and technological change; and they are at risk of losing access to better positions as firms’ pay and... Find out more

Online labour platforms are redefining the world of work, but little is known even now about the drivers of worker engagement in this type of activity. Earlier studies focused on individual preferences and job characteristics such as flexibility or low entry barriers, but the relative role of such... Find out more

It is widely accepted that the pursuit of economic growth is becoming increasingly infeasible and undesirable, necessitating substantial changes to European economies. European economic activity in terms of emissions, resource use, pollution and impacts on biodiversity is ecologically unsustainable... Find out more

At the beginning of 2022, hopes were high that the Covid-19 pandemic was on the ebb and that the European Union (EU) would be able to focus again on the main challenge of this century: how to proactively tackle the green and digital transition in a socially fair and inclusive way. But the Russian... Find out more

This paper presents the results of a mapping of social dialogue and collective bargaining experiences in the European platform economy. Building on a descriptive analysis of the initiatives, the report provides insights into collective bargaining strategies and factors that have led platforms to... Find out more

The single market currently sits at the centre of the European economic integration project and plays a key role in the EU processes of political and social integration.This centrality would have been purely totemic had it not been for the inherent success and resilience of the European integration... Find out more