The productivity slowdown, inflation and austerity
Calls for the ECB to raise rates to stem inflation have missed the negative impact of ‘structural reforms’ of labour markets on innovation.
Economy
Social Europe is an award-winning digital media publisher driven by the core values of freedom, sustainability, and equality. These principles guide our exploration of society’s most pressing challenges. This archive page curates Social Europe articles focused on economic issues, offering a rich resource for innovative thinking and informed debate.
Ukraine to pass laws wrecking workers’ rights
Zero-hours contracts are set to be legalised and 70 per cent of the workforce exempted from workplace protections.
How to restore workers’ rights
The grim statistics on workers’ rights will only be righted if global standards are properly enforced.
How board quotas influence gender-equality policies
Quotas can encourage corporate leadership to assign more importance to equality.
Labour shortages offer trade unions valuable opportunity
A ‘tight’ labour market is not such a bad thing for trade unions—and therefore for workers.
Short-time working: lessons for the next recession
Best practices in short-time working can prepare for the looming downturn.
Airport chaos: security guards and cleaners still key
The ‘key’ workers of the pandemic need sustained recognition. The chaos at airports shows what happens otherwise.
Minimum-wages directive—history in the making
The directive fundamentally strengthens collective bargaining and trade union power.
Growing out of inflation: a new supply-side policy
Reining in demand via monetary policy will not solve a supply problem.
Ensuring adequate minimum wages in an age of inflation
Minimum wages have risen across Europe this year. Inflation is eroding them.
Public services should not be the victims of inflation
On UN Public Service Day, many public-service workers and the services they provide remain needlessly impoverished.
Let’s count what really matters
Tracking four alternative economic indicators would provide a very different view of comparative performance than GDP.
Why we are on Brussels’ streets
Tens of thousands of Belgian workers today demand better wages and purchasing power.
Working from a distance: remote or removed?
Remote work will outlast the pandemic. But workers must be inoculated against the risks.
Getting deglobalisation right
This year's gathering of business and political elites in Davos recognised a basic truth—without reckoning with past mistakes.
Recovery and Resilience: stop-gap or sea-change?
The Recovery and Resilience Facility could remain a one-off crisis measure—or point to a permanent EU fiscal arrangement.
Control the vampire companies
Jayati Ghosh highlights the vicious circle between spiralling wealth and corporate political influence.