Brussels, 30 November 2015 – As the European Commission finally adopted the Annual Growth Survey package (AGS 2016) last Thursday, Commissioner Thyssen promised to put “social fairness at the heart of our economic recovery. Member States need to overcome bottlenecks to job creation, improve the way labour markets work and make sure everybody in Europe…
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Brussels, 30 November 2015 – As the European Commission finally adopted the Annual Growth Survey package (AGS 2016) last Thursday, Commissioner Thyssen promised to put “social fairness at the heart of our economic recovery. Member States need to overcome bottlenecks to job creation, improve the way labour markets work and make sure everybody in Europe can enjoy a decent level of social protection if we want to achieve more convergence.” However, the evidence of this new approach is not so clear, nor does the package contain any mention of the promised Social Pillar on rights and social standards.
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19/11/2015 – Eighteen months into the Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative, employers across Scotland are reporting the business benefits of paying the Living Wage, including dramatic improvements in staff retention and absence rates, and increased productivity.
19/11/2015 – Eighteen months into the Scottish Living Wage Accreditation Initiative, employers across Scotland are reporting the business benefits of paying the Living Wage, including dramatic improvements in staff retention and absence rates, and increased productivity.
18/11/2015 – This ILO paper: (i) examines the latest IMF government spending projections for 187 countries between 2005 and 2020 ; (ii) reviews 616 IMF country reports in 183 countries to identify the main adjustment measures considered by governments in both high-income and developing countries; (iii) applies the United Nations Global Policy Model to simulate the impact of expenditure consolidation on economic growth and employment; (iv) discusses how austerity threatens welfare and social progress; and (v) calls for urgent action by governments to adopt alternative and equitable policies for socio-economic recovery.
Details18/11/2015 – The article “Europe 2020 and the Fight against Poverty: Beyond Competence Clash, Towards “Hybrid” Governance Solutions?” by Matteo Jessoula, published online in Social Policy & Administration, issue 4/2015, summarizes the findings of the WP4 I coordinated within the reserach project COPE-Combating Poverty In Europe.
Details18/11/2015 – Today the Commission has launched a public consultation on how to improve work-life balance and reduce obstacles to women’s participation in the labour market. This consultation follows the recent withdrawal of the Commission’s 2008 proposal to amend the Maternity Leave Directive. The Commission has committed to replacing the withdrawn proposal with a ‘new start’ initiative in its Work Programme for 2016.
Details19/11/2015 – The SOPHIE research project has realeased its conclusions. Funded from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, the project aims to generate new evidence on the impact of structural policies on health inequalities and to develop innovative methodologies for the evaluation of these policies in Europe.
Details23/11/2015, Euractiv – Member states have firmly rejected British demands to limit EU citizens’ rights to social benefits when working in the UK, saying this would be discriminatory.
Details25/11/2015 – Eurochild welcomes the adoption of the European Parliament Resolution Reducing inequalities with a special focus on child poverty by rapporteur Inês Cristina Zuber. The resolution, adopted today by large majority is the formal endorsement of the 2013 European Commission Recommendation Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage. This is the first EP resolution specifically on child poverty since 2008.
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