Employment

This paper describes the current and future economic situation in Europe: While Europe has enjoyed a strong recovery, medium-term perspectives are less exciting, hence the necessity for European government to use this window of opportunity to improve their fiscal policy and implement reforms aimed at transforming the short-term recovery into a long-term one. The recovery is also a great occasion for European Countries to strengthen their economic and monetary ties, and therefore deepen the Economic and Monetary Union.

Rising inequality and slow economic growth in many countries have focused attention on policies to support inclusive growth. While some inequality is inevitable in a market-based economic system, excessive inequality can erode social cohesion, lead to political polarization, and ultimately lower economic growth. This Fiscal Monitor discusses how fiscal policies can help achieve redistributive objectives. It focuses on three salient policy debates: tax rates at the top of the income distribution, the introduction of a universal basic income, and the role of public spending on education and health.

The World Trade Report is an annual publication that aims to deepen understanding about trends in trade, trade policy issues and the multilateral trading system.
The 2017 World Trade Report examines how technology and trade affect employment and wages. It analyses the challenges for workers and firms in adjusting to changes in labour markets, and how governments can facilitate such adjustment to increase the positive impact of open trade and technological progress.

The key question this report deals with is whether IA is a major technological breakthrough which will radically transform labor and have far-reaching consequences on employment, or just one more IT innovation like the ones we witnessed during the last few decades.
In order to answer this question and concretely illustrate the challenges posed by these foreseeable changes, this report will analyze three different sectors: Transport, Banking and Health. This will help us to draw different scenarios for labor transformation.

This report looks at how regional policies can support productivity growth and jobs. While there has been a remarkable decline in inequality in OECD countries, inequality among regions within certain countries has increased over the same time period. Regions that narrowed productivity gaps tended to benefit from economically vibrant tradable sectors and integration with well-functioning cities. This report considers in detail the role of the tradable sector as a driver of productivity growth and its relationship with employment. It addresses the possible risks of a growing tradable sector and how diversification is central to strengthening regional economic resilience. It considers how regions integrate global value chains and highlights the role of regional and policy links in fostering productivity growth and job creation. It asks what policies can help better anticipate or cushion shocks from trade in specific regions and, more generally, what strategies and framework conditions are conducive for regional productivity and employment growth.

The European Union has come through difficult years. A succession of crises, often interlinked, have been the major concern of European leaders for much of the past decade. This experience has driven home the lesson that prevention is better than the cure, and that more can be done to identify and prepare for future challenges. The EU as a whole has worked to enhance its foresight capacity, notably through the work of the inter-institutional ESPAS process. For its part, the European Parliament is placing greater emphasis on agenda-setting and on horizon scanning, both to support its work in shaping the future through legislation and to improve the quality of public policy discussion of key challenges and choices ahead.