EU Social Policy: Labor Market, Employment & Social Security

Posted on Jan 30, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

EU Social Policy: Labor Market, Employment, and Social Security

Social Policy is regarded as another form of economic policy that focuses on labor market reform as a contributor to economic growth.

Binding vs. Non-Binding Provisions

  • Binding Provisions
    • Freedom of movement of workers
    • Freedom of establishments
    • Equal pay for men and women
    • Rights to social security for migrant workers
  • Non-Binding Provisions
    • Paid holidays
    • Commitments to improved living and working conditions
    • General principles for implementing a common vocational training policy

European Social Fund (ESF)

The ESF provides financial support to the temporarily unemployed and addresses issues of migrant workers, promoting economic and social cohesion.

Reforms: Address unemployment problems arising from the implementation of community policies and help overcome the structural problems experienced by certain regions and target groups.

Single European Act (SEA)

Addresses qualifications and skill mix of the labor force, infrastructure and labor costs, undeveloped rural areas, and regions with a concentration of declining industries. Illicit work concerns work outside formal labor markets and tax and social security systems and is most frequent among those who are already employed.

Social Dumping expresses the concern that employment standards will be lost in those states whose higher social standards are reflected in higher average labor costs. Wage Flexibility can be increased with economic integration. The Social Charter addresses both the conditions necessary for the completion of the SEM and attempts to create the social guarantees that the commission regarded as essential to maintaining broad political support.

Principles of the Social Charter

  1. Freedom of movement
  2. Employment and remuneration
  3. Improvement of living and working conditions
  4. Social protection
  5. Freedom of association and collective bargaining
  6. Vocational training
  7. Equal treatment for men and women
  8. Information, consultation, and participation of workers
  9. Health protection and safety at the workplace
  10. Protection of children and adolescents
  11. Elderly persons
  12. Disabled persons

Essen European Council (EES)

  • European CV
  • European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training

EU Lifelong Learning Programme

  • COMENIUS: Involves at least 3 million pupils in joint educational activities over the period of the program.
  • ERASMUS+: Supports individual participants in student mobility under the present program and its predecessors.
  • LEONARDO DA VINCI: Increases placements in enterprises.
  • GRUNDTVIG: Supports the mobility of individuals involved in adult education per year.

Structural Funds

Four structural funds allow the EU to grant financial assistance to resolve structural economic problems:

  • European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
  • European Social Fund (ESF)
  • European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF)
  • Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG)

European Work Council Models

  1. German model: Workers are represented in management bodies.
  2. Franco-Italian style: Works council is separate from the management board.
  3. Swedish model: Individual firms establish an agreement on participation with the workers.