New policy brief: Benchmarking for a Social Europe

DATE

12/04/2018

The European Commission had launched several initiatives to strengthen the social dimension that culminated in the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights on 17 November 2017. In response to challenges with regard to poverty and social exclusion, the Commission aims to encouraging general benchmarking to enhance the identification with the envisaged structural reforms in the Member States and to promote their implementation. 

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection therefore commissioned the European Centre to identify key thematic areas for potential benchmarking processes in the social field. This Policy brief by Anette Scoppetta, Michael Fuchs and Kai Leichsenring synthesizes the results showing that benchmarking in the social field has its pitfalls when focusing on a purely quantitative target setting, and thus can only be recommended within limits in the social dimension.