Technology is more likely to create new tasks than remove existing ones, according to new findings from the unique pan-European Working Conditions Survey. Rather than widespread destruction, the primary challenges facing the EU workforce as digitalisation transforms the European labour market, are shifting towards skills mismatches, generational divides, and worker autonomy.
The Policy Analysis Group of the EU Employment Committee (EMCO) organised on 24 and 25 March a tripartite meeting with social partners to discuss the gender dimensions of job quality. It gathered Member States, the Commission and social partners at cross-industry EU level - ETUC, BusinessEurope, SGI Europe, and SMEunited - and national level.
Minimum wage growth remains real and substantial for 2026. Many EU Member States with a statutory or national minimum wage have continued to apply more structural uprates, with the aim of reaching a higher percentage value of actual (average or median) wages. The most likely driver of this is the Minimum Wage Directive and its stipulation that countries must adhere to ‘indicative reference values that guide their assessment of adequacy’. At the same time, in a few Member States, progress on reaching targets previously set has been slower. Overall, however, 2026 looks likely to be a good year for many workers on the minimum wage, as they’ll see their purchasing power grow.
Pay gaps between men and women – that is, when women earn less than men for doing the same work or work of equal value, or when the set-up of pay structures and career progression disadvantages one gender over another ‒ can arise for a variety of reasons, including direct and indirect discrimination. They can also stem from an undervaluation of work traditionally carried out by women. The Pay Transparency Directive goes some way towards addressing this by requiring companies to ensure that their pay structures are based on objective, gender-neutral job evaluation that supports the implementation of the work of equal value principle. It also encourages the social partners to take pay equity for the same or equivalent jobs into account in collective bargaining. This article reflects on this principle and how social partners can support its implementation.
This report describes how the provisions of the 2023 Council recommendation on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion are implemented across Member States and presents the progress that has been achieved since 2022. In particular, it shows the main relevant reforms that have been conducted since the adoption of the Recommendation.
It covers the main areas for action outlined in the Recommendation: i) adequacy of income support; ii) coverage of persons lacking sufficient resources; iii) improving take-up of support; iv) promoting labour market activation of those furthest away from the labour market; v) ensuring effective and equal access to enabling and essential services; vi) providing individualised support; and vii) ensuring appropriate governance and monitoring.
This report is structured in two parts: Part 1 provides a horizontal analysis of each aspect of the Council recommendation, while Part 2 provides an overview of the current situation in each Member State in the form of country profiles.
This report analyses and compares the content of 94 collective agreements in three low-paid sectors – manufacture of food, leather, textiles and clothes; residential and social care; and retail – across 11 EU Member States and Norway. The report examines how collective bargaining regulates working conditions beyond wages and how these topics have evolved between 2015 and 2022. The findings show that collective agreements improve the job quality of workers in low-paid sectors beyond their pay. In addition to securing higher earnings, through additional bonuses and allowances for example, agreements also provide non-monetary benefits and opportunities for career advancement. The report finds that collective agreements focus increasingly on the well-being of employees, work–life balance or special protection for both younger and older workers.
EU leaders and social partners met in Brussels for the Tripartite Social Summit. The main theme of the summit was ‘Making Europe stronger in a changing world that delivers for workers and enterprises’.
The participants discussed the following issues:
A stronger Union economically and politically
Investing in productivity, affordable housing and quality jobs
This article provides an update of some of the most important aspects of working time regulation in the European Union, including:
statutory limits on weekly working time
annual leave entitlements, as set by law and collective agreements
estimates of average collectively agreed normal working time, including examples in five specific sectors: chemicals, metalworking, banking, retail and public administration.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is finding its way into collective bargaining agreements. The EU’s AI Act entered into force in August 2024. This triggered government initiatives on AI in several Member States, but also had implications for the regulation of AI in collective bargaining agreements and social partner initiatives. This topic also emerges as a field of industrial relations research, both at European and national level. This article provides an overview based on information from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents relating to working life developments in 2024.
