Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten

Torsten Müller is senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute. Thorsten Schulten is head of the collective agreements archive of the Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) at the Hans Böckler Stiftung. He is also an honorary professor at the University of Tübingen.

Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten

Minimum-wage directive: yes, but …

Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten 10th November 2020

The draft minimum-wage directive is a crucial first step but more needs to follow on the way to a social Europe.

The European minimum wage will come—but how?

Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten 15th September 2020

The principle of a European minimum wage is established. How it should be set is not.

The European Social Pillar – Towards An EU Minimum Wage Policy?

Torsten Müller and Thorsten Schulten 6th July 2017

On 26 April, the European Commission launched its proposal for a European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) as a flagship initiative to strengthen the EU’s social dimension. The EPSR consists of 20 key principles, not legally enforceable, that are primarily addressed to the EU member states and European institutions and intended to serve as a […]

Is Europe’s teleworking experiment coming to an end?

A new episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast looks at data from the Living and working in the EU e-survey showing a decline in the number of respondents engaged in remote work, with the percentage of people working entirely from the workplace increasing from 36% in 2023, to 41% in 2024.

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

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The policy brief series by FEPS and FES on Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) offers timely insights into how the EU can advance gender-sensitive and sustainable peace agreements in a time of mounting militarisation.

While current measures being considered are framed as necessary responses to geopolitical instability, especially concerning Ukraine, there are significant concerns from an FFP perspective and broader security critiques.

We highlight five urgent considerations:

Feminist considerations for EU security and defence
Reversing cuts to feminist movements
Learning from Latin America’s Feminist Foreign Policy
Placing Feminist Foreign Policy at the heart of EU External Action
Embedding FFP into EU Foresight Practices

READ THE SERIES

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2023/2024

Real wages in the European Union continued their decline in 2023—despite an acceleration in nominal wage growth and falling inflation rates. For the current year, there are only tentative signs of a slow recovery in the purchasing power of wages.

A resumption of real wage growth would stabilize the functional distribution of income and strengthen domestic demand. However, even under this benign scenario, the crisis is far from over from workers' point of view. They have borne the brunt of real income losses associated with the energy-price shock resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The lingering reduction in real wage levels means that wage policy still needs to catch up to contribute to a fairer distribution of the burden between labor and capital.

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This new book published by Oxford University Press presents the findings of the multiannual ERC research project “Researching Precariousness Across the Paid/Unpaid Work Continuum”,
led by Valeria Pulignano (KU Leuven), which are very important for the prospects of a more equal Europe.

Unpaid labour is no longer limited to the home or volunteer work. It infiltrates paid jobs, eroding rights and deepening inequality. From freelancers’ extra hours to care workers’ unpaid duties, it sustains precarity and fuels inequity. This book exposes the hidden forces behind unpaid labour and calls for systemic change to confront this pressing issue.

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Minimum-wage directive: yes, but …

The European minimum wage will come—but how?

The European Social Pillar – Towards An EU Minimum Wage Policy?

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