"Transatlantic discussions about labour have a long history and continue to be highly topical. A 1996 memorandum of understanding signed by United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and then European Union Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn created the transatlantic Working Group on Employment and Labor-Related Issues to address issues including investments in human capital, active labour-market policies and developments in the wider international context. A quarter of a century later, these issues remain pertinent. But in an ever-changing labour-market landscape, including digitalisation, rapid technological advances and the emergence of new forms of work relations, they take on
new meaning and urgency. The creation in 2022 of a Trade and Labour Dialogue (TALD) under the auspices of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) underlines the importance of transatlantic dialogues.

In early 2021, in the spirit of transatlantic cooperation and of the 1996 working group, Bruegel and the German Marshall Fund of the United States established the Transatlantic Expert Group on the Future of Work, supported by a grant from the European Union. The goals of the expert group were to promote dialogue, mutual learning and the exchange of best practices among the experts, and to develop policy findings to inform EU and US policymakers about challenges on which they will need to reflect in the coming years.

To establish the expert group, we identified experts with diverse backgrounds from civil society, academia, think tanks, labour and the business community. Almost everyone we invited accepted the invitation, suggesting that experts believe there is a great potential for
transatlantic dialogue on the future of work. The 34 expert group members were divided roughly evenly between the EU and the US. EU members were based in ten countries.

During 2021-2022, 15 internal meetings were held. On three occasions, we held plenary discussions with the participation of all members. The expert group was divided into three smaller working groups, and each of these working groups had four meetings – often with
the participation of other working group members. The three working groups focused on:

Technology as a driver of change in the future of work,
The inequality challenge and the role of education, skills training and social partners,
The future of social protection policy..."

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