Written by Marcin Grajewski,

Policies to boost employment and support the poorest in society have come centre stage of the political debate after the great recession raised unemployment and poverty rates, exacerbated inequalities, and put pressure on social security and pension systems. As labour markets are being reformed, they are also being transformed by technological change, with automation and digitalisation creating new business models.

This note offers links to recent commentaries and reports from major international think tanks on employment and social welfare policies in the EU. More studies on the subject are available in an earlier edition of ‘What think tanks are thinking’.

The impact of the collaborative economy on the labour market

Centre for the European Policy Studies, June 2016

The social reality of Europe after the crisis

Policy Network, June 2016

Institutional moral hazard in the multi-tiered regulation of Unemployment and Social Assistance Benefits and Activation: A summary of eight country case studies

Centre for European Policy Studies, April 2016

The Europe 2020 social inclusion indicators: Main conclusions of the ImPRovE project

Poverty Reduction in Europe: Social Policy and Innovation, April 2016

A jobseeker’s visa for third-country nationals

Jacques Delors Institute, April 2016

The design of in-work benefits: how to boost employment and combat poverty

Poverty Reduction in Europe: Social Policy and Innovation, April 2016

The revision of the Posted Workers Directive: Towards a sufficient policy adjustment?

European Policy Centre, April 2016

End poverty in Europe: Our solutions to make it happen

Caritas Europa, April 2016

Should inequality be the primary concern for Europe’s political economy?

LUISS School of European Political Economy, April 2016

Labour mobility in the euro area: Cure or curse for imbalances?

Jacques Delors Institute, Bertelsmann Stiftung, March 2016

A European minimum wage policy

Foundation for European Progressive Studies, March 2016



The economic case for a minimum wage

Foundation for European Progressive Studies, March 2016

Work in the digital economy: Sorting the old from the new

European Trade Union Institute, March 2016

Benchmarking working Europe 2016

European Trade Union Institute, March 2016

The integration of place-based social innovations into the EU social agenda

Poverty Reduction in Europe: Social Policy and Innovation, March 2016

The inequality-growth relationship: An empirical reassessment

Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, Köln, March 2016

Policies for wage-led growth in Europe

Foundation for European Progressive Studies, February 2016

The implementing directive on posted workers: And what now?

Fondation Robert Schuman, February 2016

Measuring ageing and the need for longer working lives in the EU

Centre for European Policy Studies, February 2016

Has the potential for compensating poverty by women’s employment growth been depleted?

Poverty Reduction in Europe: Social Policy and Innovation, February 2016

Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets

European Trade Union Institute, February 2016

Social investment and state capacity

Centre for European Policy Studies, February 2016

A new start for social Europe

Jacques Delors Institute, February 2016

What drives youth unemployment in Europe

Ekonomski institut Zagreb, January 2016

Joint regulation and labour market policy in Europe during the crisis

European Trade Union Institute, January 2016

Unemployment, internal devaluation and labour market deregulation in Europe

European Trade Union Institute, January 2016

The Court of Justice of the European Union and fixed-term workers: still fixed, but at least equal

European Trade Union Institute, January 2016

Wage-setting strategies for the eurozone

Bertelsmann Stiftung, January 2016

TFP, labor productivity and the (un)observed labor input: Temporary agency work

Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, December 2015

Social inequalities in Europe: The challenge of convergence and cohesion

Jacques Delors Institute, December 2015

The growing intergenerational divide in Europe

Bruegel, November 2015

European jobs and skills: A comprehensive review 2015

Institute for Public Policy Research, November 2015

Brain drain-brain gain: European labour markets in times of crisis

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, November 2016

The Welfare State and the fight against inequality: The European social model as an element of European identity

Foundation for European Progressive Studies, November 2015

Giving teeth to the EU’s social dimension: Dismal failure and promising potential

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, October 2015

Social justice in the EU: Index report 2015

Bertelsmann Stiftung, October 2015

A European Unemployment Benefits Scheme: The rationale and the challenges ahead

Centre for European Policy Studies, September 2015

“Atypical employment” is becoming a norm, but have pension systems responded yet? A comparison of six European countries

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, September 2015

The welfare state in Europe: Visions for reform

Chatham House, September 2015

The work versus welfare trade-off: Europe

Cato Institute, August 2015