Newsletter July/August 2019

The European Centre conducts tailor-made training courses in social welfare for civil servants of the Bulgarian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in five selected topics:

• Labour market and social policies
• Future of Work
• Labour migration, OSH and social dialogue
• Long-term care (part I)
• Long-term care (part II)

The European Centre is involved in two studies within the multiple framework contract Better regulation guidelines. We contribute to the studies: supporting the evaluation of the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020) and supporting the 2020 Evaluation to promote social inclusion, combate poverty and any discrimination by the European Social Fund (TO 9). 'Better regulation' is a way of working to ensure that EU policies and laws are prepared in an open, transparent manner, informed by the best available evidence and backed by the comprehensive involvement of stakeholders to achieve the objectives at minimum cost.

Eurofound has just published the working life in Albania country profile prepared by our colleague Sonila Danaj. The profile presents an overview of the current industrial relations and working conditions in the country. This is the first time that a working life country profile was prepared for Albania. 

Are you a public or private employer? Do you provide reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities at your organisation? As part of the #EUvsDiscrimination campaign, the European Commission is looking for success stories on employing persons with disabilities in the open labour market. After careful selection by disability experts and the European Commission, the most inspiring examples will be published in a guidebook, written by our colleague, Magdi Birtha. The Guidebook will be translated to all official EU languages and shared widely across the Union.

Please take a few minutes and fill out the questionnaire that is used to select the examples that will be featured in the guidebook. Once the document is completed, please send it to Magdi Birtha: guidebook@anti-discrimination.eu 

On the 26 June 2019, CIOFS-FP organised a peer review in the frame of the Posting of Workers in Eastern Europe (EEPOW) project. The focus of the peer review was on the bilateral and multi-lateral cross-border mechanisms and tools employed by Member States in order to better implement the Directive 96/71/EC. The event was greeted by Alessia Rosolen, Assessor for Employment, Training, Education, Research, University and Family (Friuli-Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region), Maurizio Romano, Representative for labour policies (Friuli-Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region, Directorate on Labour, Training, Education and Family), and Federico Pancaldi, European Commission, DG Employment (web conference). Sonila Danaj, EEPOW Coordinator, introduced the project. Luigi Gennari (Labour Inspectorate Trieste and Gorizia), Mercedes Landolfi (National reponsible FILLEA-CGIL on immigration policies and coordination of foreign workers), Feliciano Iudicone (Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini) and Giacomo Virgilio (Joint National Committee for Construction Workers’ Welfare Funds - CNCE) presented the Italian experience. Whereas Sanja Cukut Krilić (ZRC SAZU, Slovenia) and Margarita Glaser (The Construction Workers’ Annual Leave and Severance Pay Fund/Bauarbeiter-Urlaubs- und Abfertigungskasse) presented the experience of the peer countries Slovenia and Austria, respectively.

In this seminar, Tim Huijts presents data on patterns of social inequality in health in Europe, drawing for example on a recent European Social Survey module on social determinants of health and on findings from the NORFACE-funded HiNews project. Register for the 3 September 2019 here.

The conference that was held in Brussels on the 17th of June 2019, was the final mutual learning event organised by the European Centre and ICF Mutual Learning Services in the field of deinstitutionalisation. The cycle of capacity-building seminars aimed at improving the capacity of the actors at local, regional and national levels to develop measures supporting the transition from institutional to community-based services, using EU funding instruments. The Conference also shared existing European practices in the area of independent living and community-based care. Finally, the Conference aimed at improving the understanding of the European Commission and other stakeholders of the progress towards deinstitutionalisation and its main challenges. The participants identified and exchanged information on practical examples on implementing the Common European Guidelines on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care, using European Structural and investment Funds (ESIF) and other EU funding instruments. 

The conference report of the European Day of Persons with Disabilities 2018 (3-4 December 2018, Brussels, Belgium), written by our colleague Magdi Birtha, has been published on the website of DG EMPL of the European Commission. The report report summarises the main points and challenges that were highlighted during the event by the different speakers and participants in relation to: 

• the potential shape of the next European Disability Strategy;
• the possible ways to implement a new European Disability Strategy, notably in the context of the next Multiannual Financial Framework;
• and the accessibility of European cultural heritage to persons with disabilities.

The Policy brief Labour Market Transitions in an equal ‘Future of Work’ builds on a paper prepared for the European Social Fund Transnational Platform (Scoppetta, 2019) for which Anette Scoppetta is acting as thematic expert for the Thematic Network Employment. It summarises key trends of labour market transitions and outlines tension fields that are due to digitalisation and automatisation processes to eventually suggest policy recommendations for a more equal ‘Future of Work’.

This Policy brief provides insights into the individual characteristics associated with the use of formal, informal and mixed care by older Austrians living in the community. While informal support still accounts for the majority of provided care, the supply of formal services has been constantly increasing, serving primarily very old individuals, those with higher support needs and women. Large gender differences in care use patterns are still observed in Austria and particularly pronounced among married and co-habiting older people.

The paper Job carving and job crafting, written by Anette Scoppetta, Eamonn Davern and Leonard Geyer, builds on desk research and inputs from members of the Employment Transnational Network received during a meeting that took place in Malta from May 14-15, 2019. It was further enriched by results of the workshop Investing in Careers: Job Carving for inclusive Employment held in Brussels during the ESF Transnational Platform Annual Conference (21-22 May 2019).

Non-take-up der Mindestsicherung: Kein Bezug trotz Anspruch

In this article Tamara Premrov and Michael Fuchs summarise the findings of the study Falling through the Social Safety Net? Analysing non-take-up of minimum income benefit and monetary social assistance in Austria. The reform of the benefit of last resort led to a considerable decrease of non-take-up (NTU). However, 30% of eligible households still do not apply for minimum income benefits. Read more at the A&W blog.

In this Policy brief, the authors present language barriers faced by posted workers in nine European Union countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) and discuss the implications these may have for their occupational safety and health (OSH). As the fastest-growing form of temporary cross-border labour mobility in the EU, posted workers are faced with language barriers which significantly limit the capacity of posted workers to realise and exercise their employment rights, including health and safety rights. The Brief offers recommendations for policy that could help reduce OSH risks many posted workers are exposed to due to language barriers.

In the frame of the Posting of Workers in Eastern Europe (EEPOW) project, four policy briefs have been published on the existing institutional capacities as well as their needs and requirements for the full transposition and implementation of the Posting of Workers Directive (96/71/EC) into the national legislation of the candidate countries, namely Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. In order for the briefs to be accessible to national practitioners and general audiences, each brief is also going to be published in the local languages by our project partners.