Online labour platforms are redefining the world of work, but little is known even now about the drivers of worker engagement in this type of activity. Earlier studies focused on individual preferences and job characteristics such as flexibility or low entry barriers, but the relative role of...

Belgium is one of the few EU-15 countries with no system of involving employee representatives in the strategic management of a company. The post-second World War social pact created extensive institutions for information, consultation and collective bargaining at the company, sector and country...

Notwithstanding increasing policy and academic debate around the ‘twin’ digital and ecological transitions, there is no systematic assessment of their linkages, potential synergies and trade-offs. Most fundamentally, the full extent of challenges that their interaction poses for the...

In recent years the world’s two largest inflation-targeting central banks – the US Federal Reserve (the Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) – have revised their monetary policy frameworks in a more progressive direction. Whereas the Fed decided to abandon its strategy of pre-emptive...

The labour market position of the lower skilled is increasingly under pressure in most high income countries. Their bargaining position is declining under the twin pressures of globalisation and technological change; and they are at risk of losing access to better positions as firms’ pay and...

The risk of poverty is a key issue for European countries. Irrespective of the uneven evolution of that risk – a sharp increase in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008 followed by an overall decrease in the past few years – people at risk of poverty represent a key target of social...

This paper explores the EU recovery strategy with a specific focus on its potentially transformative aspects vis-à-vis European integration and on its implications for the social dimension of the EU's socio-economic governance. It aims, in particular, to provide a reflection on whether the...

The spread of Covid-19 and the ensuing adoption of lockdown measures have had severe consequences for European labour markets. All EU governments quickly made unprecedented economic and social support available to tackle the consequences of the pandemic. However, these measures – introduced by...

This paper describes the evolution of collective bargaining coverage in European countries during 2002-2018 and links it to changes in the evolution of the pay premia received by workers covered by collective bargaining. It uses evidence from the European Structure of Earnings Survey (ESES) to...

The economic and health crisis triggered by the Covid‑19 pandemic leaves the European Union facing the steepest decline in production and employment since the Second World War, on top of economic fundamentals that are already fragile as a result of the disastrous effects of the double fall...