Employment Policy in the EU

Latest news on employment policy in the European Union.

Green Employment Initiative — 02 July 2014, 14:06 CET

The European Commission adopted on 2 July a Communication outlining the employment challenges and opportunities of the current transition towards a green, low carbon, energy and resource-efficient economy.

European Skills Passport to facilitate recruitment in hospitality sector — 17 June 2014, 17:18 CET

The European Commission launched on 17 June the European Hospitality Skills Passport, a tool developed to facilitate contact between job-seekers and employers in the hospitality and tourism sector in Europe. The Skills Passport allows workers and employers to overcome language barriers and to compare hospitality workers' skills in order to facilitate recruitment in the sector. Hosted on the European Job Mobility Portal EURES, the skills passport is available in all EU official languages. The passport will be extended to other sectors in the future.

Developments in collectively agreed pay 2013 - Eurofound — 12 June 2014, 23:04 CET

The available national data reveal that average nominal collectively agreed pay increases in 2013 were roughly the same as or lower than those in 2012 in all the countries examined. However, because of lower inflation rates, employees in a number of countries saw the purchasing power of their wages increase again. This is a change from the post-crisis trend that had been observed since 2011 in many EU Member States. The increases in collectively agreed nominal wages for the chemical sector were lower in 2013 than in 2012. The development in the retail sector was less straightforward, with 10 countries reporting a lower wage increase in 2013 than in 2012 and another 10 countries reporting a higher or equal wage increase. From the sectors examined (civil service, retail and chemical sectors), civil service pay trends were the most negative, with the majority of countries surveyed reporting pay freezes or pay cuts in the sector. The study was compiled on the basis of individual national reports submitted by the EIRO correspondents. The text of each of these national reports is available below. The reports have not been edited or approved by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The national reports were drawn up in response to a questionnaire and should be read in conjunction with it.

EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 — 07 June 2014, 12:14 CET

The European Commission presented on 6 June a new Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014 – 2020, with the aim of better protecting the more than 217 million workers in the EU from work-related accidents and diseases. The new framework identifies key challenges and strategic objectives for health and safety at work and presents key actions and instruments to address these. It aims to ensure that the EU continues to play a leading role in the promotion of high standards for working conditions both within Europe and internationally.

European Working Time Directive — 18 February 2015, 14:52 CET

To protect workers’ health and safety, working hours must meet minimum standards applicable throughout the EU. The Working Time Directive, 2003/88/EC, is a Directive of the European Union. It gives EU workers the right to a minimum number of holidays each year, rest breaks, and rest of at least 11 hours in any 24 hours; restricts excessive night work; a day off after a week's work; and provides for a right to work no more than 48 hours per week. It was issued as an update on earlier versions from 22 June 2000 and 23 November 1993. Since excessive working time is cited as a major cause of stress, depression and illness, the stated purpose of the Directive is to protect people's health and safety.

Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs — 16 July 2014, 23:57 CET

In March 2013 the European Commission launched the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs: a multi-stakeholder partnership that endeavours to facilitate collaboration among business and education providers, public and private actors to take action attracting young people into ICT education, and to retrain unemployed people. Our goal is to start to increase the supply of ICT practitioners by 2015, so as to ensure a sufficient number of them in Europe in the near future.

Regulated professions database — 08 May 2014, 18:44 CET

A regulated profession is said to be regulated when access and exercise is subject to the possession of a specific professional qualification. This database contains lists of regulated professions in the EU member states, EEA countries and Switzerland covered by the Directive 2005/36/EC.

European map of regulated professions — 08 May 2014, 18:46 CET

The European Commission has published a European map of regulated professions - those professions to which access is conditional upon the possession of specific qualifications or for which the use of a specific title is protected, e.g. pharmacists or architects.

Application of workers' rights — 15 April 2014, 15:47 CET

The EU Council of Ministers adopted on 14 April a new Directive to ensure the better application at national level of EU citizens' right to work in another Member State. The new rules, proposed by the European Commission in April 2013, aim to bridge the gap between rights and reality and will make it easier for people working or looking for a job in another country to exercise their rights in practice. Member States now have two years to implement the Directive at national level.

EU Platform on undeclared work — 10 April 2014, 16:37 CET

The European Commission is proposing a new EU Platform to bring together all the various national enforcement bodies involved in the fight against undeclared work.

Erasmus+ - new EU programme for Education, Training, Youth, and Sport for 2014-2020 — 11 March 2014, 13:15 CET

The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work. The seven year programme will have a budget of €14.7 billion; a 40% increase compared to current spending levels, reflecting the EU's commitment to investing in these areas. Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience and volunteer abroad. Erasmus+ will support transnational partnerships among Education, Training, and Youth institutions and organisations to foster cooperation and bridge the worlds of Education and work in order to tackle the skills gaps we are facing in Europe. It will also support national efforts to modernise Education, Training, and Youth systems. In the field of Sport, there will be support for grassroots projects and cross-border challenges such as combating match-fixing, doping, violence and racism. Erasmus+ brings together seven existing EU programmes in the fields of Education, Training, and Youth; it will for the first time provide support for Sport. As an integrated programme, Erasmus+ offers more opportunities for cooperation across the Education, Training, Youth, and Sport sectors and is easier to access than its predecessors, with simplified funding rules.

Gender Pay Gap stagnates at 16.4% across Europe — 28 February 2014, 18:38 CET

Women in Europe still work 59 days ‘for free’ – this is what the latest figures released today by the European Commission show. The gender pay gap – the average difference between women and men’s hourly earnings across the entire economy – has barely moved in recent years and still stands at around 16% (it stands at 16.4% as the year before). The latest figures mean European Equal Pay Day is marked on 28 February, for the second year in a row. The EU-wide event marks the date in the new calendar year from which women really begin to be paid for their work as compared to men. In effect it means that today women work 59 days "for free" until they match the amount earned by men. This is the fourth time the Equal Pay Day takes place at European level.

Gender pay gap statistics — 28 February 2014, 18:29 CET

This article shows how gender inequalities in terms of pay vary widely among Member States of the European Union (EU) and among groups of employees. The unadjusted gender pay pap (GPG) is an important indicator used within the European employment strategy (EES) to monitor imbalances in wages between men and women. It is defined as the relative difference (in percentage) between the average gross hourly earnings of women and men.

Guide on application of ‘Habitual Residence Test’ for social security — 13 January 2014, 16:21 CET

A practical guide on the 'Habitual Residence Test' to help Member States apply EU rules on the coordination of social security for EU citizens that have moved to another Member State has just been published by the European Commission. The new guide gives more clarity about the EU 'Habitual Residence Test' and will facilitate its application in practice by Member States' authorities.

Proposal on increasing Gender Equality in the Boardrooms of Listed Companies — 21 November 2013, 18:01 CET

Companies listed on stock exchanges in the EU would have to bring in transparent recruitment procedures so that by 2020, at least 40% of their non-executive directors are women, under a draft EU directive voted by Parliament on 20 November 2013. MEPs propose that companies which fail to introduce such procedures should face penalties. In 2013, only 17.6% of non-executive board members of the EU's largest companies were women.

Women on Boards: Commission proposes 40% objective — 20 November 2013, 19:43 CET

The European Commission is taking action to break the glass ceiling that continues to bar female talent from top positions in Europe’s biggest companies. The Commission has proposed legislation with the aim of attaining a 40% objective of the under-represented sex in non-executive board-member positions in publicly listed companies, with the exception of small and medium enterprises. Currently, boards are dominated by one gender: 85% of non-executive board members and 91.1% of executive board members are men, while women make up 15% and 8.9% respectively.

Draft Joint Employment Report — 13 November 2013, 23:24 CET

The latest draft Joint Employment Report, published by the European Commission as an annex to the Annual Growth Survey 2014, analyses employment and social trends and challenges as well as the policy responses deployed by Member States. It serves as a basis for further analysis, surveillance and coordination throughout the so-called European Semester, the EU's yearly economic policy-making cycle. The draft Joint Employment Report, annexed to the AGS, shows that there are some encouraging signs that unemployment has stopped rising, and that Member States have made progress in the last year on labour market reforms. However unemployment is still unacceptably high - especially youth and long-term unemployment - and, according to data presented in a new scoreboard of employment and social indicators included in the report for the first time, persistent divergences in unemployment, youth unemployment, household income, inequality and poverty rates have built up across Member States, particularly within the euro area.

EU Labour Law — 18 October 2013, 14:00 CET

Labour law is a body of legislation that defines your rights and obligations as workers and employers in the workplace. At Community level, labour law covers two main areas: Working conditions, including working time, part-time and fixed-term work, and posting of workers; Information and consultation of workers, including in the event of collective redundancies and transfers of undertakings.

Flight time limitations - stricter rules on aircrew fatigue — 09 October 2013, 23:06 CET

New rules on maximum flight times for pilots and cabin crew should now be adopted by the European Commission, as a resolution calling on it to withdraw them was voted down in Parliament's plenary session on 9 October.

Modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive — 09 October 2013, 22:52 CET

A virtual professional qualifications card, to make it easier for doctors, pharmacists, architects and other professionals to move to and practice in another EU country and an alert system, to make it harder for those barred from a profession at home to do likewise, was introduced by a new draft law voted by Parliament on 9 October.

Survey of adult skills — 09 October 2013, 19:44 CET

One in five adults in Europe have low literacy and numeracy skills, and even a university degree in the same subject is no guarantee of the same level of skills in different countries, according to the first comprehensive international Survey of Adult Skills published today by the OECD and European Commission. The survey assesses the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving ICT skills of adults aged 16-65 in 17 EU Member States - Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, The Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden and the UK (England/Northern Ireland), as well as in Australia, Canada, Japan, Republic of Korea, Norway and the United States. The findings underline the need to target investment at improving education and training to increase skills and employability in European countries.

Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) — 04 October 2013, 16:01 CET

The Survey of Adult Skills is an international survey conducted in 33 countries as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It measures the key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper. The evidence from this Survey will help countries better understand how education and training systems can nurture these skills. Educators, policy makers and labour economists will use this information to develop economic, education and social policies that will continue to enhance the skills of adults.‌

Evaluating national regulations on access to professions — 02 October 2013, 13:03 CET

The European Commission has adopted a communication announcing the start of an evaluation of national regulations on access to professions. Regulated professions are professions to which access is conditional upon the possession of specific qualifications or for which the use of a specific title is protected, e.g. pharmacists or architects. Such restrictions can exist for reasons such as consumer protection. However, overly restrictive conditions for accessing certain professions are seen as discouraging or preventing young people from entering the labour market. Different regulatory regimes can make it difficult for qualified professionals to apply for job vacancies in other Member States. Improving access to professions, in particular through a more proportionate and transparent regulatory environment in Member States, would facilitate the mobility of qualified professionals in the single market and the cross-border provision of professional services. It could also have a positive impact on the employment situation and enhance economic growth, especially since professional services alone amount to around 9% of GDP in the European Union. In order to provide a more complete picture of the barriers affecting the access to and exercise of regulated professions, a report on the findings of the peer review on legal form and shareholding requirements conducted under the Services Directive is also published today. These requirements, which often come in addition to restrictions on access to professions, may hamper the setting up of subsidiaries and multi-disciplinary practices.

35 pct of jobs in the EU rely on IPR-intensive industries — 30 September 2013, 22:07 CET

About 39% of total economic activity in the EU (worth some EUR 4.7 trillion annually) is generated by IPR-intensive industries, and approximately 26% of all employment in the EU (56 million jobs) is provided directly by these industries, while a further 9% of jobs in the EU stems indirectly from IPR-intensive industries - according to a study published today by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM).

European Alliance for Apprenticeships — 03 July 2013, 12:02 CET

The European Alliance for Apprenticeships was launched on 2 July by Commissioners Androulla Vassiliou (Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth) and László Andor (Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) at the 2013 WorldSkills competition in Leipzig, Germany. The aim of the Alliance is to help fight youth unemployment by improving the quality and supply of apprenticeships across the EU through a broad partnership of key employment and education stakeholders. It also seeks to change attitudes to apprenticeships. It will in particular identify the most successful apprenticeship schemes in the EU and apply appropriate solutions in each Member State.