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Economy


Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher. We use the values of freedom, sustainability and equality as the foundation on which we examine society’s most pressing challenges. We are committed to publishing cutting-edge thinking and new ideas from the most thought-provoking people. This archive page brings together Social Europe articles on the economy.

Artificial intelligence and workers’ rights

Valerio De Stefano and Antonio Aloisi 8th November 2021

A draft EU regulation on artificial intelligence risks exclusion of the social partners and lack of compliance with data-protection requirements.

If young people ‘are the future’, that needs to start now

Kristof Becker, Tea Jarc and Joscha Wagner 5th November 2021

Next year has been designated ‘European Year of Youth’. The Conference on the Future of Europe must hold out a real prospect for young people.

An unorthodox solution for Europe’s electricity crisis

Michael Davies-Venn 2nd November 2021

National schemes sparing consumers the worst impact of soaring prices are no substitute for the EU redefining electricity as a public good.

Minimum wage—yet another gender divide?

Carlos Vacas-Soriano 28th October 2021

The number of minimum-wage earners has increased across Europe over the last decade—and they are more likely to be women.

Who will be covered by an EU instrument on platform work?

Valerio De Stefano and Antonio Aloisi 21st October 2021

A broad definition of the ‘worker’ will be essential to avoid platform companies sustaining false self-employment claims.

A new global economic consensus

Mariana Mazzucato 14th October 2021

The pandemic has highlighted the deficiencies of economic deregulation and market liberalisation and a new policy-making paradigm is emerging.

The Pandora Papers and the threat to democracy

Katharina Pistor 12th October 2021

In demonstrating how some of the world’s most powerful people hide their wealth, the Pandora Papers have exposed the details of a global system.

Trade unions take on platform companies in the struggle for decent work

Ludovic Voet 7th October 2021

On World Day of Decent Work, the European Trade Union Confederation puts the spotlight on justice for platform workers.

‘Recovery and resilience’—how that looks from the east

Imre Szabó 4th October 2021

EU funding of bricks-and-mortar projects in central and eastern Europe hasn’t addressed its human-resources crisis. Could the Recovery and Resilience Facility be a turning point?

Another win for workers: Uber drivers are employees

Jill Toh 22nd September 2021

As the platforms lose case after case over the designation of ‘contractors’ as workers, they are lobbying at European level to win back control.

Global inequality and the pandemic: exaggerated hopes and fears?

Michael Dauderstädt 21st September 2021

The pandemic has barely increased global income inequality—but it has made other inequalities worse.

Minimum-wage directive: the case for a ‘social partners option’

Johan Danielsson 13th September 2021

Adding a ‘social partners option’ to the minimum-wage directive could unblock negotiations while protecting well-functioning collective bargaining systems.

Wellbeing at work—it’s time to up the ante

Ivan Williams Jimenez 2nd September 2021

The new EU health-and-safety strategy risks being a missed opportunity to address workplace mental health and wellbeing.

Platforms put a spoke in the wheels of Spain’s ‘riders’ law’

Ane Aranguiz 2nd September 2021

The Ley de Riders, recognising delivery riders as employees, is now a reality. But is it a game-changer?

Dedramatising debt

László Andor 28th July 2021

Post-pandemic recovery and the green transition—and Europe’s competitiveness—depend on investment financed by joint borrowing.

Europe gets back to the work … of getting people to work

Ray Griffin and Tom Boland 28th July 2021

The notion that active-labour-market policies are the solution to unemployment has long been an act of faith. That’s the problem.

ECB strategy review: the mountain has given birth to a mouse

Peter Bofinger 26th July 2021

Peter Bofinger argues that the ECB strategy review represents a missed opportunity.

Recruiting irregular migrants to … fight irregular migration

Magdalena Ulceluse and Felix Bender 23rd July 2021

The EU directive sanctioning employers for utilising irregular migrants is putting migrant workers who might complain in a Kafkaesque scenario.

The courage to change

Esther Lynch and Bruno Bobone 21st July 2021

Europe’s trade union and Christian business leaders appeal jointly for a new economic and social order after the pandemic.

Corporate tax cuts do not boost growth

Philipp Heimberger and Sebastian Gechert 15th July 2021

Implicit in the global ‘race to the bottom’ on corporation tax in recent decades has been that this favours growth. Yet does it?

Minimum wages rise, but more slowly

Carlos Vacas-Soriano and Christine Aumayr-Pintar 13th July 2021

Convergence of central and eastern-European EU members towards older ones with high minimum wages is much stronger than in the Mediterranean countries.

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Eurofound advertisement

Minimum wages in 2022: annual review

Nominal minimum wage rates rose significantly in 2022, compared with 2021. In 20 of the 21 European Union member states with statutory minimum wages, rates increased. When inflation is taken into account, however, the minimum wage increased in real terms in only six member states. If current inflation trends continue, minimum wages will barely grow at all in real terms in any country in 2022.


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Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

EU Care Atlas: a new interactive data map showing how care deficits affect the gender earnings gap in the EU

Browse through the EU Care Atlas, a new interactive data map to help uncover what the statistics are often hiding: how care deficits directly feed into the gender earnings gap.

While attention is often focused on the gender pay gap (13%), the EU Care Atlas brings to light the more worrisome and complex picture of women’s economic inequalities. The pay gap is just one of three main elements that explain the overall earnings gap, which is estimated at 36.7%. The EU Care Atlas illustrates the urgent need to look beyond the pay gap and understand the interplay between the overall earnings gap and care imbalances.


BROWSE THROUGH THE MAP

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

Towards a new Minimum Wage Policy in Germany and Europe: WSI minimum wage report 2022

The past year has seen a much higher political profile for the issue of minimum wages, not only in Germany, which has seen fresh initiatives to tackle low pay, but also in those many other countries in Europe that have embarked on substantial and sustained increases in statutory minimum wages. One key benchmark in determining what should count as an adequate minimum wage is the threshold of 60 per cent of the median wage, a ratio that has also played a role in the European Commission's proposals for an EU-level policy on minimum wages. This year's WSI Minimum Wage Report highlights the feasibility of achieving minimum wages that meet this criterion, given the political will. And with an increase to 12 euro per hour planned for autumn 2022, Germany might now find itself promoted from laggard to minimum-wage trailblazer.


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ETUI advertisement

ETUI/ETUC conference: A Blueprint for Equality

Join us at the three-day hybrid conference ‘A blueprint for equality’ (22-24 June).

The case against inequality has already been strongly articulated. Inequality is not just incidental to a particular crisis but a structural problem created by an economic model. Now is the time to explore what real equality should look like.

As a media partner of this event, Social Europe is delighted to invite you to this three-day conference, organised by the ETUI and ETUC. More than 90 speakers from the academic world, international organisations, trade unions and NGOs will participate, including the economist Thomas Piketty and the European commissioner Nicolas Schmit.


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