Eurofound

🤖 As advanced robots become more complex and prevalent in modern work environments, understanding how workers and robots interact and the implications for work organisation and is crucial for robots’ successful integration into the workplace.

📊 You can now read our research on the human-robot interaction via a dedicated .

🖱️ Click here: https://ow.ly/2qY250Ton3X

We were delighted to host today’s to Austria 🇦🇹, an insightful online event with Eurofound experts. The discussion focused on key strategies to address and the vital importance of .

This initiative forms part of Eurofound’s ongoing mission to engage at the national level, ensuring that our research findings are widely disseminated and foster meaningful dialogue.

Thank you all for your active participation—it made for a highly engaging and productive session 👏

If you missed it and would like to view the presentation, take a look here: https://ow.ly/qnHy50ToioH

🔜 Stay tuned for upcoming virtual visits to your country!

The erosion of public trust is an issue of concern in Europe, and one which has already had significant political ramifications.

However, there is hope. By working together Europe can restore citizens’ faith in institutions and in the future.

Read the new article from Massimiliano Mascherini, Eurofound Head of Unit for Social Policies, in Social Europe: https://ow.ly/8ei750To1KY

🛎️ : Work–life balance: Policy developments

➡️ Read the article https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/resources/article/2024/work-life-balance-policy-developments

While EU stakeholders support the objectives and fundamental principle of leaving no-one behind, there is ongoing ambiguity on how the should happen.

This is ultimately hampering progress.

📰 Read more: https://ow.ly/BLxu50TmMce

📉 Prolonged labour shortages in the EU affect growth, and the bloc’s ability to achieve its digital and green targets.

💼 Around 80% of EU employers struggle to recruit workers with the right skills.

Currently, the skills of one in three employees in the EU are mismatched with their job, with 17% overqualified and 13% underqualified.

📰 Read more: https://ow.ly/If9y50TkjN9

🛎️ : Company practices to tackle labour shortages

➡️ Download the report https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publications/2024/company-practices-tackle-labour-shortages

We were delighted to welcome our Irish Board Member, Kieran Lea along with representatives from the EU and International teams from the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to Eurofound today.

The visit was an opportunity to discuss Eurofound's contributions to EU Presidencies, share ideas for Ireland's upcoming in 2026, and explore potential future collaborations.

Stay informed on Eurofound's work, sign up to our free monthly newsletter now https://ow.ly/BQ0a50TjkgX

2023 was marked by several significant labour disputes across Europe.

🚍 The most affected sectors were transport, education, health and social care, and manufacturing.

🚫🤝 Not all these disputes have been solved, with conflicts continuing in a number of countries.

📄 Read our analysis: https://ow.ly/ZKBF50T9A1e

📄 In her political guidelines for the next European Commission , issued in July, the returning president, Ursula von der Leyen, outlined ambitious proposals for the next five-year European term.

🏠 They include appointment of the first commission member whose responsibilities would include housing, as well as the first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan.

🧰 The proposed new EU initiatives in the area underlines that Europe's crisis can be solved. But a range of policy tools is needed to do it.

Read the new blog and analysis from Eurofound research manager Hans Dubos in Social Europe: https://ow.ly/QvuO50TfcqZ

🆕 : Regional employment change and the geography of telework in Europe

👉 Download the joint report by Eurofound and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publications/2024/regional-employment-change-and-geography-telework-europe

August is out, topics include:

📌 Labour disputes across Europe in 2023: Ongoing struggle for higher wages as cost of living rises
📌 EU presidencies: Eurofound’s role
📌 Developments in working life 2023

Don't miss out! Subscribe now👉 https://ow.ly/cUTX50Tcp7J

🆕 : Creating a new social contract for the just transition: Is partnership working?

👉 Download the policy brief https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/publications/2024/creating-new-social-contract-just-transition-partnership-working

2023 was marked by several significant labour disputes across Europe, as wages struggled to keep pace with the increasing .

🚍 The most affected sectors were transport, education, health and social care, and manufacturing.

🚫🤝 Not all these disputes have been solved, with conflicts continuing in a number of countries.

Is Europe facing into a winter of discontent?

📄 Read more in our latest article: https://ow.ly/ZKBF50T9A1e

🔎 Much of the focus on is on its risk to current employment.

📈 But automation can result in productivity growth which should lead to the creation of more good-quality jobs.

🤝 The positive outcomes of automation should be equitably shared with workers.

🤖 Read more about the human-robot interaction: https://ow.ly/Qsxb50T8PQJ

🏫 Children across Europe are preparing to go back to school after the summer break. For some families this means new financial burden as they struggle to make ends meet.

🧒 Fighting child poverty has become a central dimension of EU social policy. Despite improvements over the past decade, nearly one-quarter of children were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2022.

🎧 Listen to our recent episode of on the European and what Europe needs to do to deliver for its children: https://ow.ly/CUv550T7yBX

🤝 Delighted to welcome representatives from the Nordic Industrial Trade Union Collective Bargaining and Social Policy Committee to Eurofound this week.

Delegates from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway were presented with an overview of Eurofound’s work, focusing on Industrial Relations and .

🔎 Find out more about our research in this area: https://ow.ly/X7XL50T48Sb

📊 Our latest research shows that robots are not causing widespread job losses in Europe.

The impact of on employment has been more nuanced, currently leading to more changes in job profiles than cuts.

🤖 Read more about the human-robot interaction: https://ow.ly/QvRy50T39IT

Feeling watched?

Although the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides safeguards to protect employees' privacy and data protection rights, regulatory challenges remain.

Compliance with the GDPR principles of data minimisation and transparency is difficult given digital technologies collect and process large amounts of data and their inner workings often lack transparency.

Read more in our article on employee monitoring: https://ow.ly/q5Ah50T389S

The welfare state plays an important role in mitigating inequalities in Europe across various aspects of life.

Market income , for example, has been reduced by an average of 42% across EU Member States.

However, the weakening of welfare states in recent years has contributed to growing income inequality in some countries.

Read more in our report on Developments in income inequality and the middle class in the EU: https://ow.ly/iWcy50T0YIE

Can minimum wage workers in the EU make ends meet?

On average across EU Member States, 23% of minimum wage earners reported difficulties in making ends meet in 2022, 10 percentage points higher than for other workers.

📌 Learn more about minimum wage on our recently updated topic page: https://ow.ly/jCif50ST1Zg

😫 Feeling hot at work?

can have a multitude of impacts on job quality, and affect different sectors and groups of workers in different ways.

Read more in our full report:
https://ow.ly/aGYo50STGqL

Our forthcoming research report - Regional employment change and the geography of telework in Europe - is available soon.

✍ Sign up to be notified when it's published: https://ow.ly/gilt50SQe1v

📈 Data show that young people feel the highest levels of financial strain among all age groups in Europe.

📊 41% of those aged 15–24 find it difficult or very difficult to make ends meet. This percentage drops to 38% for the older group of young people (those aged 25–29).

On , check out our recently updated topic page on youth 👉 https://ow.ly/YtSo50SSLqt

🎓 We were delighted to host the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung Summer Academy at Eurofound. It was a pleasure to welcome a diverse group of scholarship students from various disciplines.

Our experts, Christine Aumayr-Pintar, Mária Sedláková, and Karel Fric, shared valuable insights on industrial relations, , and , highlighting the benefits of and the challenges faced by vulnerable workers.

A big thank you to all the students for their enthusiastic participation! 🙌

🎙️ 📝 Transcripts for podcast are now available!

Drawing on the insight of experts, the series explores critical social rights issues on the EU and national agenda, how they affect our individual lives and work, and what can be done to shape a better future for us all.

🎧 Check them out: https://ow.ly/1TqP50SSb79

🤔 Will platform work erode working conditions?

While platforms are expanding their reach and diversifying into novel business models, the phenomenon is still rather limited: only about 1.4% of workers derive more than 50% of their income from platform work.

Ensuring that the employment status of people working through platforms is correctly classified and increasing the transparency of algorithms are two of the core components of the proposed Platform Work Directive.

📌 Learn more about platform work on our recently updated topic page: https://ow.ly/GIC850SS9NS

Our forthcoming policy brief - Just transition: Policy actors' role, opportunities and challenges - is available soon.

✍ Sign up to be notified when it's published: https://ow.ly/NMVq50SQe1x

📊 In the EU in 2022, 36.4% of children under the age of three who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion accessed early childhood education and care (ECEC) for at least one hour per week.

Denmark had the highest participation rates for children at risk of poverty or social exclusion (76.7%), Ireland had the lowest (1.59%).

🔗 Read more on care on our updated topic page: https://ow.ly/kmEQ50SNYU7