Commission review reveals latest labour market trends

(June 2017) A new report from the CBS statistics office highlights three key trends in the labour market reflecting greater inequality and less security. Overall the percentage of workers on permanent contracts has fallen from 71% to 61% while the labour market is becoming more divided between low-paid, low-skilled jobs and high-paid work, with few jobs in the middle. The report also found more young people and those with basic education are stuck in low-paid jobs with little autonomy or security.

A new publication from the ETUI-REHS research organisation analyses of wage developments and wage bargaining practices since the mid-1990s in 17 European countries. The introduction provides an overview of some of the main trends across Europe with a focus on wage moderation, the minimum wage and the decentralisation of collective bargaining. The country chapters provide a detailed overview of wage developments, also in relation to productivity, low pay and the minimum wage, and gender and sectoral wage differences. They also discuss developments concerning bargaining levels and the bargaining

The latest ETUC analysis of collective bargaining across countries in the Eurozone finds little evidence of any upward trend in pay increases, suggesting only a modest rise to 2.5% from 2.3% last year. The ETUC argues that wage moderation has failed to make any significant contribution to employment growth and that the European Central Bank is wrong to use pay trends to justify an increase in interest rates. The ETUC round-up also indicates a recent increase in working hours in Germany, France, Italy and Austria, ending a long downward trend in hours worked. [Read more at > ETUC (EN)->http:/