A warning to Scrooges: cut long working hours
A right to disconect, collective bargaining and public procurement are the levers to reduce excessive working hours.
Economy
Analysis and debate on the European economy: growth and investment, fiscal and monetary policy, trade, industry and inequality.
Competition policy: turn to the labour market
Weak competition on labour markets means wages are often set below the market-clearing level.
EU fiscal rules: time to face the contradictions
Dario Guarascio and Francesco Zezza
The new version of the pre-pandemic fiscal rules, if imposed, would jeopardise the European economy.
The shadow of austerity—and authoritarianism
European trade unions are mobilising today in Brussels against the austerity which would follow reimplanted fiscal rules.
Central-bank independence: the beginning of the end?
Elisabeth Lindberg and Antti Ronkainen
Rising interest rates have devalued central banks’ assets, creating demands for recapitalisation. Time for a debate.
The imperative of reforming EU economic governance
Finance ministers must forestall reapplication of the existing fiscal rules, to prevent a disastrous renewal of austerity.
‘Women’s economics’ goes mainstream
Claudia Goldin’s Nobel prize puts women’s labour-force participation and the gender pay gap at the centre of economics.
Rethinking globalisation in an age of crises
We need to find a path to peaceful coexistence and co-operation, fixing the social and economic damage of the last three decades
US electric-car maker faces Swedish union shock
Tesla faces its first ever strike after refusing to negotiate with the Swedish trade union IF Metall.
Global tax evasion: the good and the bad news
A genuine assault on individual and corporate tax evasion, Jayati Ghosh writes, would tap vast revenue resources.
Making the twin transition: skills at a premium
Patricia Velicu and Isabelle Barthès
The European Union Year of Skills needs to deliver a ‘right to training’ for workers.
Gender equality: focus on the world of work
A rebalanced distribution of paid and unpaid work is a prerequisite of gender equality in employment.
Pay transparency: closing the gender pay gap
In segregated labour markets, women need hypothetical comparators and collective support to make equal-pay claims.
Dangers ahead for the platform-work directive
The presumption of employment status for ‘gig’ workers has been diluted by the member states in negotiations.
Make chemical safety an EU priority
Tens of thousands of deaths in Europe are caused each year by exposure of workers to hazardous chemicals.
Collective bargaining—key to business performance
Ramón Rueda López and Jaime Aja Valle
Collective bargaining does not only improve workers’ wages and conditions. It also enhances company performance.