EU Employment Policy Research Articles

Mind the gap! UK employment policy both during and beyond EU membership: from policy layering to policy drift

ABSTRACT This article interrogates the impact of EU employment policy on the UK both during and after EU Membership. To do so, it adopts insights from both historical institutionalism and discursive institutionalism. The argument made is that integration in the area of employment policy resulted in a process of ‘layering’ whereby EU policy ultimately tamed some of the more liberal elements of the UK’s employment model. Such layering, however, failed to generate a more fundamental change within the UK’s path dependency owing to the emergence of a powerful discourse within British politics. This discourse portrayed EU legislation as a threat to the UK’s ability to generate growth and jobs. As an ‘independent’ country, however, overtime UK employment policy is likely to experience policy drift from the EU, albeit the extent of such remains unclear.

EU employment policy and social citizenship (2009–2022): an inclusive turn after the Social Pillar?

When does the EU employment growth agenda also serve social progress? Scholars concerned with the equality/efficiency trade-off generally look at the EU as an agenda-setter. Little attention has yet been paid to its role as direct provider of social rights. Building on a data set of 71 EU measures and 317 judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU, this article evaluates the extent to which EU employment policies helped to advance social citizenship by assessing the scope and distribution of individual entitlements over time (2009–2022). Our findings show that, after almost two decades of silence, the EU not only expanded the scope of its influence over individual social rights but also took an inclusive turn, driven by more ‘universalising’ and ‘capacitating’ initiatives. Looking ahead, better monitoring of the distributive profile of EU initiatives indirectly affecting rights production (such as SURE or the Recovery and Resilience Facility) would help to ensure that this shift increasingly benefits those needing it the most.

EU Structural funds and employment policy performance in Greece: impact and reform during the fiscal austerity years

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the impact of the European Structural Funds on the performance of employment policy in Greece. The employment policy in Greece, is a policy funded by EU and characterized by centralization, increased red tape, administrative overlaps and fragmentation pitfalls, factors’ contributing to policy's ineffectiveness. Based on the comparative analysis of the implementation and performance of ESIF Operational Programs in Greece and by focusing on the case of the Greek Public Employment Service (OAED), this article evaluates European Union Policies actual impact on employment policy effectiveness and new jobs creation in Greece during the 2012–2020 period.

Commission entrepreneurship and EU employment policy – The fate of a former darling

An ongoing disagreement between researchers of EU decision-making processes is about who primarily drives the development – the Commission or the member states. The present article addresses this issue within the context of EU employment policy, a cornerstone in Social Europe. Research has often pointed to a gradually weakening and subordination of these policies to economic policies. However, recent in-depth studies have found a progressive ‘socialization’ taking place in the European Semester. In this article, it is argued that Commission entrepreneurship has been relatively successful and that the Commission stands out as the most important actor in a partial comeback of EU employment policy, which has taken place since the 2010s.

Regulating Uncertainty: Variable Work Schedules and Zero-Hour Work in EU Employment Policy

This policy brief considers what is the scope for addressing the challenges linked to irregular work schedules in EU social and employment policy. It first describes EU competence in the areas of work and employment conditions in order to assess what the EU institutions can de jure do to address irregular work schedules. It then evaluates what the EU can de facto do based on the current direction and agenda of its employment policy. This is followed by a more detailed discussion of two legislative acts at EU level in the areas most pertinent to irregular and variable work schedules, that is working time and employment contracts.

Book Review: The Sustainability of the European Social Model. EU Governance, Social Protection and Employment Policies in Europe, edited by Jean-Claude Barbier, Ralf Rogowski and Fabrice Colomb

Book Review: <i>The Sustainability of the European Social Model. EU Governance, Social Protection and Employment Policies in Europe</i>, edited by Jean-Claude Barbier, Ralf Rogowski and Fabrice Colomb

The European Employment Strategy as Enhanced Coordination

The article proposes a holistic approach to the European Employment Strategy, from a conceptual, structural and functional point of view, within the framework of what the Author calls the Enhanced Coordination of EU and national Employment policies. The holistic approach encompasses all the stages of life of the human being, from education to retirement, in the perspective of guaranteeing social inclusion through work, focusing on the flexicurity pathway. In order to do this, the Author advocates for the need of earmarking investment at EU and national levels in favour of inclusive growth within the Stability Pact.

European employment policies

This article provides a critical analysis of the EU Employment Policies legal framework. The need to focus on both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of labour is highlighted in the first part. The second part deals with the quantitative aspects, addressing the Employment chapter, State aid, and the freedom of movement for workers. The third part discusses the qualitative side – providing an overview on the EU labour law – and addresses the limitation of the EU’s legislative powers and the need for minimum labour standards. The conclusion underlines the difficulties to get further hard law and the soft law inadequacy.

Czas pracy w krajach Unii Europejskiej w 2010 r. – wybrane aspekty

Working time in countries of the European Union in 2010 – selected aspects The aim of this article is to characterise briefly working time on labour markets in countries of the European Union. There were presented its main indicators such as age, gender or type of employment. There were also described general impacts of the number of working hours on capacity to reconcile employment with commitments in family and private life. The discussed problems are confirming the assumption that the working time arrangement is a fundamental factor influencing quality of life both inside and outside work. The reconciliation of work with private life or life outside work is a longstanding goal of EU employment and social policies. It is an element of the Europe 2020 strategy not only to enable more people to take up paid work, but also to promote greater gender equality. As emphasised, people in their ‘prime working years’ – especially women – are particularly involved in unpaid work, such as childcare, household jobs or care of the elderly, so the issue of work – life balance extends across the whole working age. Flexible working time arrangements are generally seen as a way to improve employees’ work-life balance.

The development and nature of EU Employment Policy

The development and nature of EU Employment Policy

The Effect of the Judiciary-Induced Policy Development: Collective Order Versus Individual Rights in EU Social and Employment Policy

As in other policy areas, one of the significant characteristics of EU social policy is the critical role played by the ECJ in its policy development. This paper analyses the effect of the leading role of the judiciary in the EU. The ECJ intervention is usually discussed using the dichotomy as “neo-liberalism” against “Social Europe,” or Community responsibility versus Member-states autonomy (F. Scharpf). Building on the argument proposed by Menedez (2010), which contrasts individualistic rights put forward by the ECJ with solidarity, this paper offers a new perspective to understand the political tension inherent in the EU social policy. The paper illuminates two elements of EU social policy. One is the “collective order” element. This element characterizes the “form” of EU social policy, most prominent in the Articles 153 - 155 of the TFEU. The other is the “individual rights” or citizenship element, which is prominent in the “content” of EU social and employment policy. This element is further enhanced by the ECJ-induced policy development. These two elements are potentially in conflict. This inherent contradiction is manifest in recent labour cases, namely Laval, Viking, Ruffert and Luxemburg cases. Through the examination of the cases and responses of various political and social actors, this paper contends that it is not the question of whether liberal or social Europe. Rather, the conflict is between the individual and the collective element of the social and employment policy.

What are the Future Prospects for the European Social Model?�An Analysis of EU Equal Opportunities and Employment Policy

The aim of our article is to examine the future prospects of the European Social Model (ESM). First, the article defines the ESM as a mixture of hard law, soft law and underlying norms and values. Second, the article analyses the ESM on a more detailed level in the case of the law of equal opportunities and employment through a historical account and the legal dynamics of integration. The results of the analysis indicate a growing integration capacity of the ESM. Yet, this runs counter to the current neoliberal preferences of the Barroso Commission which has moved from a strategy of combining economic growth and social cohesion, to one in which economic growth creates social cohesion.

Die Minderheitenfrage in der Europäischen Union

Despite the fact that there are about 191 minorities in the 27 member states of the European Union, protection of minorities is not a topic of EU Community Law. These issues are firmly placed in the hands of each of the member states, although under control of the Council of Europe, in which all EU members are members, too. Attempts toward a protection of minorities can be found within the EU's foreign policy, when approval of new founded states is linked to certain standards in minority rights as well as one of the Copenhagen Criteria for the admission of new member states includes special guarantees for minorities. In Community Law itself four topics in particular can be connected to the protection of minorities: As discrimination in general is prohibited due to art 12 of the EC Treaty, the Treaty of Amsterdam added special protection against discrimination for ethnical and religious reasons in art 13 of the EC Treaty. Several Directives of the Council were added. Secondly, the protection and support of language and culture can also be seen in a minority context, since the Charter of Fundamental Rights, although not legally binding, enlists variety of cultures among its central values. Furthermore, the protection of certain social groups according to the EU's employment policy and the process of regionalization can be seen as part of a beginning regulation of minorities in EU Community Law, although not as a separate topic due to national restraints among some member states. The Treaty of Lisbon offers two instruments, which may lead to a EU-based minority policy: The Charter of Fundamental Rights, as signed in 2001 will become legally binding and on the other hand special regulations on majority rules may offer new possibilities to overrule some member states reservations against EU-based protection of minorities.

Patterns of labour market integration in Europe--a life course perspective on time policies

This article examines the patterns of labourmarket integration over the life course of men and women in seven European ountries. We select a range of household categories coinciding with different phases in the life course and use the European Community Household Panel survey to identify four broad national models, which are associated with different state regimes with regards to ‘time policy’. These are the Nordic ‘universal breadwinner’ model (Sweden) of high participation involving long part-time or full-time hours and high employment continuity for both sexesover the life course; the ‘modified breadwinner’ model (France) where family formation and motherhood are still associated with withdrawal from the labour market for some groups of women and where mothers who are employed work predominantly full-time; the Mediterranean exit or full-time model (Italy and Spain) where fewer women are employed, but when employed generally work full-time; finally different models of ‘Maternal part-time work’ (Dutch, German and UK) where motherhood is associated with a reduction in the employment rate that is less than that found in the Mediterranean countries and in France, but where part-time hours are the norm for mothers, even when children are older. We conclude that the Nordicmodel features the least pronounced gender inequality in time allocation to employment over the life course combined with a greater level of ‘active ageing’ of older workers. This profile is supported by a coherent and integrated set of policies for time and income management over the life course in contrast to the more piecemeal measures that exist in other national models. Hence, the Nordic model offers important insights for EU employment policy.

Unemployment, wages and collective bargaining in the European Union

This article questions the predominant view on unemployment and wages in the European Union, according to which high unemployment is primarily caused by labour market rigidities, i.e. social institutions and regulations which prevent ‘market-clearing’ real wage levels and structures. The article shows that the foundations of that view coming either from neoclassical or New Keynesian theory are not convincing, neither theoretically nor empirically. Analysis of the developments in the EU during the last four decades shows that the claimed positive relationship between real wage growth and unemployment cannot be found. On the contrary, persistently high unemployment has had strong adverse effects on nominal wage growth and on the labour income share. Weakened union bargaining power and changing collective bargaining structures have contributed to this result. This article therefore concludes that the current EU economic and employment policies aiming at further wage restraint, wage differentiation and decentralisation of collective bargaining are deeply misguided and need to be replaced by an alternative wage policy as part of a growth- and employment-oriented coordination of macroeconomic policies.

Soft regulation and the subtle transformation of states: the case of EU employment policy

This article studies the soft regulation developed in the field of EU employment policy from the late 1990s onwards, a type of policy co-ordination that has been termed the ‘Open Method of Coordination’. It focuses on particular regulatory mechanisms, in the section entitled ‘Discursive regulatory mechanisms’, built into this ‘soft’ system of governance, which are related to language use and knowledge making. These include: joint language use (Eurodiscourse); the building of a common knowledge base (including collection and standardization of statistics); the strategic use of comparisons and evaluations; the systematic editing and diffusion of knowledge, combined with social pressure and time pressure. It is argued that these measures together constitute a systematic system of governance with the potential to transform the practices of the member states and thus add to the integration process, albeit by a partly different kind of dynamic than regulation and integration by hard law.

Agency Work – from Marginalisation towards Acceptance? Agency work in EU Social and Employment Policy and the “implementation” of the draft Directive on Agency work into German law

During the last few years, agency work has received heightened legislative attention in Europe, on an EU level as well as on national level, since the early 1990s. This interest was spurred by the relative growth of the sector as well as by the hope that agency work might offer solutions to unemployment by providing enhanced flexibility. As a result, agency work is no longer considered as a form of employment to be shunned, but has gained in acceptance. This article undertakes to analyse the legislative development towards acceptance of agency work by comparing the EU approach with the German approach. Over and above the specific issue of agency work, the question whether needs for flexibility of employers and employees are capable of being reconciled by recourse to new methods of organising work and what regulatory policy is most likely to achieve this, forms a background to our considerations.After giving an overview of the definition of agency work with a specific reference to the inherent risks and the potential of enhancing flexibility and resulting regulatory approaches, we will consider the EU strategy on regulating agency work, especially within the conceptual framework of the EU employment policy. The next step is to analyse the German case with reference to the historical development of the approach towards agency work and an analysis of the latest legislative reform and its practical consequences. The conclusion assesses whether the German legislation complies with the draft directive, which national peculiarities shape its practical effects and what recommendations may be referred for the final version of the draft EU directive.

The Eurozone and financial integration: the employment relations issues

Together the macroeconomic and financial attributes of monetary union are changing the rules governing the European economy. This paper assesses the consequences of these changes for employment relations in member states. The analysis focuses on three matters in particular. First, how labour market actors are responding to the fact that macroeconomic policies are not only out of their own control but may therefore fail to correspond to the needs of particular countries. Second, how employment relations are adapting to the new microeconomic challenges released by the move towards deeper financial integration inside the EU, which has its main impact on the structures of corporate finance and thus on corporate strategy. Finally the implications of both patterns of change for the EU employment policy are assessed to gauge the impact of monetary union on the European social model.

Die EU-Beschäftigungslücken im Spiegei von Erwerbstätigenquoten / The EU Employment Gaps in the Mirror of Employment- Population Ratios

Zusammenfassung Eine Analyse europäischer Beschäftigungsdefizite, die Erwerbstätigenquoten statt der traditionellen Erwerbsquoten verwendet, macht deutlich, dass in vielen EU-Ländern noch unausgeschöpfte Beschäftigungspotenziale bestehen, insbesondere bei älteren Arbeitnehmern, aber auch bei Frauen und im Dienstleistungssektor. Könnte die EU-15 die gleiche Erwerbstätigenquote wie die USA erreichen, so fänden fast 34 Millionen Personen zusätzlich Beschäftigung. Selbst das neue EU-Ziel einer Erwerbstätigenquote von 70 % würde die Schaffung von 23 Millionen Arbeitsplätzen bedeuten und erscheint deshalb überaus ehrgeizig. Zwar haben einige EU-Mitgliedsländer dieses Ziel bereits verwirklicht, doch streuen die Erwerbstätigenquoten so stark zwischen den einzelnen EU-Ländern, dass eine für alle Mitgliedstaaten einheitliche Beschäftigungspolitik wenig zielführend und ratsam erscheint.

Policy, politics, and social control: A systemic functional linguistic analysis of EU employment policy

In this article, I argue that EU employment policy is, in Bernstein's sense, a form of pedagogic discourse, in which regulation or social control projects instruction. In terms of social control, policy functions to persuade others to do things. In terms of instruction, policy also transmits a neoliberal view of reality. Furthermore, through its regulative and instructional functions, policy depoliticizes by restricting the kinds of social actors that may participate in employment policy making and by restricting alternative construals of employment. For this article, I examine how language functions to realize the employment policy genre. More specifically, I use the resources of genre and register theory of systemic functional linguistics, in order to demonstrate how EU employment policy functions to control and instruct.