92 posts
Working out the Netherlands' 'unemployment puzzle' | Roel Janssen
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Flexible labour laws and government measures mean there are fewer Dutch people out of work than expected. But can it last?It's called the "unemployment puzzle". Even for the experts at the economic forecasting agency of the Dutch government, the Cent...
EU2020: Denmark aims for high employment
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In the blog post Denmark: Competitiveness challenges we found slow productivity growth as well as high and rising wage costs among the major hurdles for the future of the Danish economy. What does the National Reform Programme (NRP) tell us about gro...
BNE Vacancy – Brussels Trainee
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About BNE Business for New Europe was founded in 2006 and is a pro-European, business oriented think-tank and advocacy organisation. We are backed by our advisory council, which is a coalition of leading UK business figures. We are committed to h...
Wotk in the present and future
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Do not ask people what they do for a living. Ask them how and why they do it.NickPthinks on business, EU policy, socio-economics and systemics in Europe. North America and the world...
The present and future of work
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No work is shameful when done for the right reasons. Every work is shameful when done for the wrong ones.NickPthinks on business, EU policy, socio-economics and systemics in Europe. North America and the world...
European Council documentation: Europe 2020 employment (II)
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Is there a difference between The Emperor's New Clothes, by Hans Christian Andersen (see Wikipedia), and the conclusions by the European Council? Yesterday, we saw that the June summit endorsed the country-specific recommendations approved by the Cou...
European Council: Economic policy reform priorities III
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Having looked at the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) from the Commission in Part One and EU 2020 macroeconomic and fiscal guidance offered by the Ecofin Council in Part Two, we turn to another submerged part of the iceberg, awkwardly acknowledged by the...
EU Joint Employment Report (JER) heading for spring summit
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Ahead of the EU's economic and social summit, the European Council 24 and 25 March 2011, we return to the EPSCO Council, where ministers for employment and social affairs adopted the following general conclusions: 3073rd Council meeting Employment, S...
EU Council (EPSCO): EU2020 and March European Council
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How did the ministers for employment and social affairs in the EPSCO Council prepare the upcoming spring meeting of the European Council 24 to 25 March?Here is a brief description of the subject matter (page 7): The Council held a policy debate on is...
"British Jobs for British Workers?" by Greg Thomson
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The UK government’s immigration cap seeks to deal with public concerns but makes little economic sense. Public concerns would be better assuaged by active labour market policies to train the resident...
End of the road: no more training UK civil servants about the EU
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“You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.” Bob Dylan. Never could words be more apt to describe my return to National School of Government for the last two days to run a training course for twenty civil servants about...
Actors and actresses protest long serial episodes
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Booming industry has a black side. An episode sometimes last 2 hours and not all actors and actresses are compensated enough… So there many of them gathered together to protest unhumane working conditions…. More photos and news in Turkish...
EU Career opportunities
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Career opportunities in the EU Institutions: why would you want to consider a career in the EU Institutions? This somehow rather quaint video will get you going. Find more here.
Fighting for a just transition towards green jobs
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Today Euro MPs Marita Ulvskog, Dan Jorgensen, Linda McAvan and Kriton Arsenis met trade unions from Europe, Africa and Latin America to discuss the ITUC's campaign for 'Just transition towards green jobs'. The trade unions updated MEPs on the sta...
Europeans terrorised by unemployment, not by terrorism on TV
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Particularly in Italy, European television is obsessed with crime and terrorism,but the economic situation and the employment crisis are our real concerns. A recent report on the 'fears of Europeans' seeks to explain why...
"Cyclical unless proved structural" by Andrew Watt
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To the average man or woman in the street it may be obvious why unemployment is so high – around 10% in both the United States and the euro area. There was a financial crisis, bubbles burst, people stopped spending, banks lending and firms inve...
What about working for the EU?
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I was part of an event at the Foreign Office yesterday which brought University Vice-Chancellors, department heads and career advisers together to talk to them about the EU as a potential career for their students. It was heartening, if surreal, R...
"It is the state and not employers who takes on the costs"
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So says Myria Vassiliadou of the European Women's Lobby (EWL) of the latest tranche of legislation on maternity leave.It is almost a perfect expression of the economically-illiterate, rent-seeking attitude of those who already receive their wages fro...
Brussels en greve
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Brussels got a welcome burst of colour today as tens of thousands of trade unionists converged on its boulevards to express outrage at planned public spending cuts.
European plan for the creation of green jobs
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On the occasion of the first ever ministerial conference on "green jobs", Deputy Prime Minister Joëlle Milquet and European Commissioner László Andor have launched the proposal for a first European plan for the creation of jobs in the "green" sect...
Europe prepares to protest
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MADRID On Wednesday there will be strikes and protests across Europe. This was the day earmarked by unions to demonstrate their opposition to the age of austerity. So marchers will be out in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Belgium....
Spain’s Unemployment Continues To Rise
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Spain’s EU harmonised seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate (which is the interesting number) went up again in July, according to the latest data from Eurostat. It rose to 20.3% from 20.2% in June. So despite a double digit fiscal deficit, Spai...
Unemployment: a chink of light and a huge challenge
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Eurostat has just issued the unemployment numbers (which are seasonally adjusted) for July. They show that euro area unemployment fell for the first time since the Great Financial Crisis hit, albeit by a paltry 8000 persons. If this marks the start o...
The French System of Collective Bargaining
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Collective bargaining in France was generalised by law in 1950, which established the industry as the main level for bargaining. In 1971, collective bargaining at the ‘inter-professional’ (cross-industry) level was also established. Finally, the...
LabourStart: the largest African strike ever
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From the world’s leading trade union website, LabourStart: History is being made this week with the largest strike ever to take place in Africa. LabourStart has up-to-date and comprehensive coverage here. Hundreds of you have signed up to...
‘Socialist Organiser’ on Reid and Scargill
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“From a red to a rat” By John O’Mahony, in Socialist Organiser, 1984: The miners strike is now the great dividing line in Btitish society, in British politics, and in the labour movement. You are either with the miners or you are a...
Emilie Turunen on unpaid interns: ‘we risk losing our generation’
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In her soon-to-be-adopted youth unemployment rapport, the 26-year-old Dane has surely rewritten the tune of an infernal chorus. At 26, who better than the youngest member of the current European parliament to discuss a disenchanted population?
POSITION AVAILABLE – Team Assistant / Researcher
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As we grow in size, we are looking for a motivated, highly organised and flexible person to join our team. This is a hybrid role involving office administration, supporting the BNE team and research. Administration will involve day-to-day admin and o...
We are obliged to put people out of work
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Sorry, you see only by trashing their futures can we theoretically save the planet. Seems a perfectly ane and reasonable thing for our Government to do. After all, because of those nasty Europeans they have no choice now do they.When will they wake u...
Market rationality: reaction to US unemployment
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Eons ago: Stocks, Metals, Euro Dive as Investors Seek Safety (4 February 2010) NEW YORKFinancial...
Europe 2010: Collective Bargaining in Crisis? New Social Europe Journal Out Now!
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The new Social Europe Journal Vol. 5 Issue 1 is now available as pdf download for those of you who prefer a pdf version to reading individual articles on this website. The new journal includes contributions by Norman Birnbaum, Klaus Busch, Milos Pick...
Youth Without Work
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Among the many devastating effects of the current global financial crisis, one of the most pernicious in the developed world is the upward trajectory of the unemployment rate for youth, which rose by six percentage points in the OECD area from 2007 t...
Education, Education, Education
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I am working my way through the dozens of applicants for my current internship vacancy. What strikes me is the quality. There are a few exceptions who don’t quite hit the spot. If you actively campaigned for UKIP in the General Election less t...
Never say never to the Working Time Directive
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Andy Egan from BECTU, the TV technicians union, has expressed his union’s concern that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition would be even more opposed to the EU Working Time Directive than the previous government. Speaking on Monday at the q...
Vacancy for a Summer Intern
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I am advertising for an intern in my London office over the summer months. Full details of the (paid) vacancy are on the excellent w4mp website here. I’m also pleased that it has been posted on the Vibe. The Vibe is a great idea it says…...
EU Concours 2010: EPSO in troubles?
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If I'm reading Samuel's euroblog post (French) correctly and add this message* issued by EPSO (the European Personnel Selection Office) that concerns the same matter, EPSO could get into deep troubles with it's 2010 concours - if it isn't already. P...
Hey, why don’t we requisition the Royal Hospital Chelsea for productive workers?
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Some telegraphery from Iain Duncan Smith here. In short, IDS thinks we need to physically move people of working age on benefits to where employers want them; to make space, we need to relocate pensioners in council houses to smaller homes. It looks...
Three Job Opportunities at European Alternatives
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We are excited to announce three full time vacancies at European Alternatives! No related posts.
My new vocation
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I left work to become a mum but little did I know that coming back to work not only would I start qualifying for the “working mum” description but also that of a juggler. Every space of time like air for a juggler has millimetres of opppo...
EU leaders to end dispute over 2020 targets
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The European Council confirms the five EU headline targets which will constitute shared objectives guiding the action of member states and the Union," read the draft conclusions. The objectives include employment, research, climate change, education...
Agriculture sector down by 25% between 2000 and 2009 in the EU
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Between 2000 and 2009, employment in the agricultural sector in the EU27 decreased by 25%, the equivalent of 3.7 million full-time jobs1. It fell by 17% in the EU152 and by 31% in the 12 Member States (NMS122) that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007.
The future of "work"
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By 2050, will most work be done by freelancers? It is the industrial revolution that turned artisans & other free lancers into employeesNickPthinks on business, policy, socio-economics and systemics in Europe. North America and the world...
US economy and jobs: A new socio-economic model woud be nice but ....
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If Obama wants 2 create jobs other than low skill - low wage then IMO he has to design and "install" new US socio-economic model. This seems most unlikely given the political - institutional dynamics in the US these days (see eg Senate "block" to hea...
ILO says global unemployed reached 212 million in 2009
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According to the ILO's (International Labor Organization) Global Employment Trends report, the total number jobless people worldwide reached 212 million in 2009, up 34 million compared to the 2007 eve of the global crisis.NickPthinks on business, pol...
Hungary Isn’t Another Greece……..Now Is It?
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I couldn’t help being struck earlier this week by the following statement in an interview the Financial Times had with Hungarian Finance Minister, Peter Oszkó: “Structural reforms of the pension and social welfare systems, plus a rebala...
Is the opt-out safe?
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The Hungarian nominee for EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner, Laszlo Andor, has had his European Parliament today, and it was not quite as dull as some other hearings - Mr Andor seemed willing to share his views on several issues and actua...
Jobs - the European crisis
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A presidency, usually, is no small thing. It smacks of power, of ritual, of ceremony. Spain would have you agree. It has just taken over the rotating EU Presidency. Next weekend, guests are invited to Madrid to celebrate the...
Draft Joint Employment Report 2009
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The European Commission presents the draft Joint Employment Report 2009. The draft report will be discussed by Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in the Council early in 2010 and when adopted, will become a joint report by the Commission and the...
The Skills that Europe Needs
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I had the great pleasure of chairing a hearing run by the Socialist and Democrats group (S&D) on Vocational Training. Alongside me for the discussion was my fellow MEP Maria Badia, who is somewhat of an expert on this issue, and Maros Sefc...
Employment conditions: EU new top jobs
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The Lisbon Treaty created the new top posts of the President of the European Council, the “double-hatted” High Representative and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union. Implementing the treaty required decisions on the pay an...
Jobs, crime and climate at European Council
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All 27 Heads of State and Government will gather tonight and tomorrow in Brussels for the European Council. Discussions on how to create conditions for new jobs in Europe will on top of the agenda. A new ”EU2020 strategy” is planned to follow on...
Sofia: Measures to Alleviate the Impact of the Crisis on the Labour Markets
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I am at Sofia airport on my way back to Brussels after a successful meeting (an annual affair) of the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the Economic and Social Councils in the Member States and the European Economic and Social Committee. The them...
The power of unemployment
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It's worth more than a glance at the comment made by the a European Commission spokesman on the sale of the car manufacturer Opel. The message from Jonathan Todd and his boss, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, was that the EU...
Bust the Myths: Working Time Directive
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The European Commission and European Parliament are getting ready for a mediation meeting to resolve...
The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself
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Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency o...
European Union: Employment Committee
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The treaty based advisory Employment Committee promotes coordination between EC (EU) member states on employment and labour market policies.br /br /Does ‘management and labour’ have a specific meaning in this context? Often used in Eurojargon, bu...
EU employment: Incentive measures and pilot projects
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Even if there is no independent European Community (European Union) employment policy, the Treaty establishing the European Community offers the EC (EU) some scope for supporting action, labeled as incentive measures.br /br /br /br /***br /br /br /Cu...
Employment aims of EU
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A high level of employment or even full employment can be seen as important aims of the European Union (European Community), but the real scope of action at European level requires a closer look at the treaties.br /br /Outside circumstances and inter...
End of the opt-out?
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Yesterday, the employment social affairs committee of the European Parliament voted to scrap the Working...
