Skip to content

Social Europe

  • eBooks
  • Newsletter
  • Membership
  • Advertisements

Avatar photoAgnieszka Piasna

Agnieszka Piasna is senior researcher in economic, employment and social policies at the European Trade Union Institute in Brussels, focused on job quality, labour-market policies and regulation, working time and gender issues. She co-ordinates research in the framework of the ETUI project on contingent and platform work.

Migrant labour in the ‘gig’ economy: progress or trap?

Agnieszka Piasna and Wouter Zwysen

Platform work is often presented as a stepping-stone for migrant workers. It may not however feel so benign to them.

Digitalisation and job quality—the evidence

Agnieszka Piasna

The impact of digitalisation on work is uneven—but more positive where workers are protected by institutional arrangements.

Organising and bargaining in the platform economy

Agnieszka Piasna

Unions have the capacities to mobilise and represent platform workers and connected workforces in non-standard work forms.

The ‘freedom’ to work for nothing

Valeria Pulignano and Agnieszka Piasna

Irregular pay is one of the criticisms levelled at platform companies. But some of the time there is no pay at all.

What should a female career and family structure post-pandemic look like?

Agnieszka Piasna

The pandemic threatens to exacerbate gender inequalities and reinforce the association between women and unpaid care—unless contrary action is taken.

Gig-life balance?

Agnieszka Piasna

Impossible hours carved out by apps have often been presented as if self-determined ‘flexibility’ on the part of workers.

Better working conditions, more predictable work—the new EU directive

Agnieszka Piasna

The EU directive on irregular work is a positive step but it struggles with the contradiction of protecting workers from the labour-market risks transferred by capital.

Where Do We Stand With “More And Better” Jobs In Europe?

Agnieszka Piasna

The European Union has gone a long way since the Lisbon Strategy of 2000 with its “more and better jobs” objective. In parallel with the

Dispelling Creative Myths On Lower Employment Protection

Agnieszka Piasna and Martin Myant

In the years since the 2008 crisis, 229 employment protection reforms have been imposed across EU member states (see here). There has been a strong

Eurofound Advertisement

Is financial resilience and trust in Europe faltering?

In this episode of Eurofound Talks, host Mary McCaughey and senior researcher Eszter Sandor unpack the results of the 2025 Living and Working in the EU e-survey. While headline inflation has stabilised at 2.1%, the data reveals a continent gripped by chronic precariousness, with 57% of respondents now at risk of depression. Mary and Eszter explore how this economic insecurity is impacting institutional trust and democratic engagement.

LISTEN HERE
FEPS Advertisement

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!

In geopolitics, 2026 is challenging our certainties: from the abduction of the Venezuelan president, over the open US threats to 'take' Greenland, to the US-Israeli war on Iran. This issue tries to determine what comes next, debating power politics in the 21st century. We also examine the European Commission's first Anti-Poverty Strategy as well as the EU's need for proactive adaptation measures, exploring the legislation, resources and mechanisms to climate-proof our future.

READ THE MAGAZINE
Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT
S&D Group in the European Parliament Advertisement

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2026

Minimum wage policy across Europe has shifted significantly, with many EU countries raising wages above average and anchoring them to adequate living standards. This trend is consolidating as countries increasingly adopt the reference values recommended in the European Minimum Wage Directive — recently upheld by the European Court of Justice.

DOWNLOAD THE PAPER
ETUI Advertisement

A more strategic Europe? Risks and opportunities for the world of work

Europe’s ambition to achieve strategic autonomy is at risk of being undermined from within, according to the annual flagship report by the ETUI and the ETUC. Despite signs of macroeconomic resilience, weakening investment, stalled decarbonisation and growing labour market fragilities are eroding the very foundations on which Europe’s power depends. Once again, the Benchmarking Working Europe 2026 report stands out as an invaluable resource, providing a comprehensive set of indicators illustrated through more than 60 graphs and tables, with analysis from ETUI researchers.

READ HERE

Our Mission

People

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Copyright Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH 2026
  • eBooks
  • Newsletter
  • Membership
  • Advertisements