Schneider, E. M. & Laino, E. (2014) “Promoting the Social Economy as a Driver for Inclusive Growth and Social Progress“, SOLIDAR: Together for Social Europe, Briefing 64, March. The social economy is an essential pillar of the European social model and its actors play an important role in maintaining social services and in overcoming economic and social crises; in recent years 3.5 million new jobs have been created in …Read More
Persistent unemployment poses a substantive threat to democracy in Southern European countries
Muro, D. & Vidal Lorda, G. (2014) “Persistent unemployment poses a substantive threat to democracy in Southern European countries“, London School of Economics and Political Science, 13 March 2014. The purpose of competitive elections is to reward good politicians and punish bad ones, but what happens if elections can no longer fulfil this role? Diego Muro and Guillem Vidal write that developments in Southern European countries since the start of …Read More
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Financing the Real Economy
Canton, E. (2014) “Financing the Real Economy“, ECFIN Economic Brief, Issue 30, February 2014. Introduction In the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis, policymaking became more geared towards structural reforms to support the process of economic recovery, steered at the EU level through the reinforced economic govern-ance. While there areencouraging signs that an economic recovery is underway in Europe, growth pro-spects are modest and further re-forms remain necessary …Read More
From sick man of Europe to economic superstar: Germany’s resurgence and the lessons for Europe
Dustmann, Chr., Fitzenberger, B., Schönberg, U., Spitz-Oener, Al., “From sick man of Europe to economic superstar: Germany’s resurgence and the lessons for Europe”, www.voxeu.org, 3February. In a slow-growth, high-unemployment continent, Germany’s performance stands out. The success is often ascribed to the politically difficult Hartz labour-market reforms. This column discusses evidence to the contrary. The Hartz reforms played no essential role. Rather, the key was the threat of offshoring to central …Read More
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Third European Quality of Life Survey – Quality of life in Europe: Trends 2003–2012
Eurofound, (2014), “Third European Quality of Life Survey – Quality of life in Europe: Trends 2003–2012”, 27 January. This report compares the results from the three waves to provide evidence of trends and change in the quality of life of Europeans over a decade. It also examines whether differences across EU Member States have narrowed or remained stable. One of its findings is that subjective well-being has remained stable across …Read More
Working for the Few
Oxfam, (2014), “Working for the Few”, 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper, 20 January Economic inequality is rapidly increasing in the majority of countries. The wealth of the world is divided in two: almost half going to the richest one percent; the other half to the remaining 99 percent. The World Economic Forum has identified this as a major risk to human progress. Extreme economic inequality and political capture are too often …Read More
Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2013
European Commission, (2014), Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2013, Brussels. This year’s report offers an in-depth and wide-ranging review of key labour market and social challenges facing the EU as it slowly emerges from recession. Where will Europe’s new jobs come from in an increasingly competitive global economy? Will active inclusion policies support help address rising levels of poverty among those of working age? Will the improvement in the …Read More
“Migration as an Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis? A Comparison of Europe and the United States”
Jauer, J., Liebig, T., Martin, J. and Puhani, P., (2014), “Migration as an Adjustment Mechanism in the Crisis? A Comparison of Europe and the United States”, OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 155, OECD Publishing. The question of whether migration can be an equilibrating force in the labour market is an important criterion for an optimal currency area. It is of particular interest currently in the context of high …Read More
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Global Employment Trends 2014: The Risk of a Jobless Recovery
ILO (2014), Global Employment Trends 2014: The Risk of a Jobless Recovery, ILO Publications, Geneva. The Global Employment Trends study offers the latest global and regional information and projections on several indicators of the labour market, including employment, unemployment, working poverty and vulnerable employment. The weak global economic recovery has failed to lead to an improvement in global labour markets, with global unemployment in 2013 reaching almost 202 million. Relevant …Read More
Education to employment: Getting Europe’s youth into work
Mourshed, Μ., Patel, J., Suder, K., (2014), “Education to employment: Getting Europe’s youth into work”, McKinsey & Company, January. The problem of youth unemployment in the European Union is not new. Youth unemployment has been double or even triple the rate of general unemployment in Europe for the last 20 years. The events of the past few years have dramatically exacerbated it, however: 5.6 million young people are unemployed across Europe, …Read More