What does the introduction of market mechanisms in welfare provision mean? Evidence gathered from the agendas of the committee for labour and social affairs and the committee for health of the Federal Parliament 1990–2017 shows that consumers’ interests are represented by consumer organizations, but to varying degrees. Differences follow the variances in the development and regulation of the specific welfare markets.

Working in two or more jobs at the same time creates special needs in terms of social security that differ from those of standard dependent employees or the self-employed. The study examines three case studies of countries with different levels and trends in multiple jobholding: Denmark, UK and Germany.

Labour costs in the German meat industry have been significantly lower than in other major European meat-producing countries. Will the new German legal framework lead to an end to wage-dumping?

Innovative leaps in digital technology alongside changing gender roles in society may open a window of opportunity to renegotiate gendered work patterns. Does digitalisation hold the potential to reorganise gendered work relations - and if so: why?

The study provides an exploration of the literature concerning the impacts of digitization and the fourth industrial revolution on the world of work, informed by the experiences of Covid-19 and focusing on the gendered implications.

Low-cost production exploiting migrant workers: our new report highlight the need for action against cheap production and poor working conditions in the German meat industry. New legislation banning contract work is a chance for better working conditions. Also urgently needed: an industry-wide collective agreement.

The draft minimum-wage directive is a crucial first step but more needs to follow on the way to a social Europe.

The study investigates workers' non-use of telework in German workplaces. The authors ask to what degree cultural barriers, besides technical barriers, contribute to the non-use of telework. Regression analyses using LPP data show that women - independent of their status positions - are more likely to forgo telework due to perceived cultural barriers.

In June the European Commission published a further consultation paper on possible measures to introduce fair minimum wages in the European Union. It remains open, however, what exactly the commission means by ‘fair minimum wages’ and how they can be guaranteed.

The study provides a comparative overview of the current minimum wage situation in all 27 EU countries plus the UK and shows how urgent the problem of 'in-work poverty' is in the EU.

The meaning of short-time work in different EU countries, and the importance of the SURE program

About 27% of all employees in the EU, UK and Switzerland are working short time. How do support schemes differ across Europe? What are the key criteria for a fair short-time work scheme in times of COVID-19?

With a nominal increase of 2.9 per cent for 2019, agreed pay rose nearly as much as in the preceding year. Set in the context of the past two decades, this represents one of the highest rates of increase and was exceeded only, and then only marginally, in 2014 and 2018. Given the modest and falling rate of consumer price inflation of 1.4 per cent, real pay grew by 1.5 per cent in 2019.

Against the European trend, employment and working conditions in the German public sector have improved after the financial crisis. Trade union strategies played an important role.

The system of German industrial relations aroused lively interest following the corporatist crisis management of 2009/2010, which was credited with ‘Germany’s jobs miracle’. In 2019, it is apparent that although works councils and multi-employer collective bargaining are still alive, labour relations as a whole are undergoing substantial changes.

Minimum wages are often set only at a rather low level, which does not allow for a decent standard of living. More recently, however, many European countries have seen political initiatives for a more substantial increase of minimum wages. As analysed by Thorsten Schulten (WSI) and Torsten Müller (ETUI), these initiatives fit quite well to the concept of a European minimum wage policy.

The study investigates workers' reasons for not working from home in German workplaces. Yvonne Lott (WSI) and Anja Abendroth (University Bielefeld) ask to what degree cultural barriers, besides technical barriers, are reasons for not working from home. Regression analyses using LPP data show that women - independent of their status positions - are more likely not to work from home due to perceived cultural barriers.

The extension of social security protection to all paid workers – including to self-employed workers and atypical-, flexible- and hybrid-job holders – is a fundamental prerequisite for strengthening Europe’s social dimension. Karin Schulze Buschoff (WSI) shows that the Dutch basic old-age pension system and the Austrian approach could serve as suitable models for other countries.

New European economic governance regime and the autonomy of collective bargaining: a fundamental conflict. The book chapter by Daniel Seikel (WSI) shows how reform measures imposed on programme countries have led to a substantial deterioration of the bargaining power of trade unions, undermining one of the cornerstones of post-war democratic governance.