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Susanne Wixforth

Susanne Wixforth is deputy head of the Economic Policy Department in the Vienna Chamber of Labour.

Susanne Wixforth

Social-ecological public procurement

Susanne Wixforth 15th December 2022

The vast sums disbursed in procurement and subsidies by public institutions must lever good work amid the green transition.

Inflation: free markets or freeriding?

Susanne Wixforth 7th December 2022

Companies with market power are increasing prices beyond rising energy costs—because they can.

‘Greedflation’: who wins, who loses?

Susanne Wixforth 17th October 2022

With inflation driven largely by corporate rent-seeking, rather than suppressing wage claims windfall profits must be taxed.

Towards social sustainability: a social taxonomy

Susanne Wixforth 4th October 2022

A ‘social taxonomy’ should be developed as a counterpart to the green investment taxonomy, with comprehensive employee involvement.

Transnational labour and social rights

Susanne Wixforth 8th April 2022

A European layer of social insurance is increasingly necessary.

Fair pay for truck drivers

Susanne Wixforth 16th March 2022

The Conference on the Future of Europe needs to hold out a prospect of a single market that works for its mobile workers.

A chance for a social future

Susanne Wixforth 21st July 2021

Can the Conference on the Future of Europe be a turning point from a mere economic union to one of social rights?

How can the EU achieve a fair distribution of the tax burden?

Susanne Wixforth 10th November 2020

Falling corporate taxation has been matched by a rising contribution from labour. But there are ways to redress the balance between citizens and companies.

Material concerns about posting of workers

Susanne Wixforth 8th January 2020

Legal arguments over the EU posting of workers directive raise the issue of which is to prevail: workers’ rights or unregulated markets?

Welcome to GAFA land—where the winner takes it all

Susanne Wixforth 30th May 2019

The Big Tech platforms have established monopolies which disempower their competitors as well as their workers. EU competition law can be used by unions seeking to bring them to heel.

The Celtic Tiger leaves Irish workers scarred

Susanne Wixforth 9th May 2019

Workers in Ireland are still bearing the brunt after the Celtic Tiger’s demise—but with a modest gain against the precarisation of work.

The European Hydra: Wages And Social Dumping – Competition Law As A Way Out

Susanne Wixforth 20th November 2018

Fighting against transnational social dumping can best be compared to Heracles’ struggle against the Hydra of Lerna – the multi-headed serpent in Greek mythology. This struggle is highly uneven because every time a head is cut off, the monster regenerates two new ones to replace it. Similarly, when trade unions succeed in revealing a case […]

The New EU Budget Under The Constraints Of Brexit And The Debt Brake

Susanne Wixforth 13th July 2018

The UK’s exit from the EU means a contributions gap of an estimated €10-14 billion per year, around 7 percent of the EU Budget. Thereby, the discussion about the multi-annual financial framework has already set off in one direction: How do we fill the gap rather than how do we reform the budget? At the […]

The Future Of Europe – A Space For The Social Policy Avant-Garde

Susanne Wixforth 31st January 2018

On March 1 2017, the European Commission set out a White Paper on the Future of Europe. There was none of the fierce debate that might have been expected after the UK’s Brexit vote and application to leave: the European Union simply remained trapped in its daily routine. Brexit negotiations, the row about refugee quotas […]

ETUI advertisement

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2022

Since 2000, the annual Bilan social volume has been analysing the state of play of social policy in the European Union during the preceding year, the better to forecast developments in the new one. Co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the new edition is no exception. In the context of multiple crises, the authors find that social policies gained in ambition in 2022. At the same time, the new EU economic framework, expected for 2023, should be made compatible with achieving the EU’s social and ‘green’ objectives. Finally, they raise the question whether the EU Social Imbalances Procedure and Open Strategic Autonomy paradigm could provide windows of opportunity to sustain the EU’s social ambition in the long run.


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Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Discover the new FEPS Progressive Yearbook and what 2023 has in store for us!

The Progressive Yearbook focuses on transversal European issues that have left a mark on 2022, delivering insightful future-oriented analysis for the new year. It counts on renowned authors' contributions, including academics, politicians and analysts. This fourth edition is published in a time of war and, therefore, it mostly looks at the conflict itself, the actors involved and the implications for Europe.


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Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


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ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


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