Documents Marlier, Eric 16 results

"Increasing attention has recently been paid to the situation of domestic workers at European Union (EU) level. The European Parliament, social partners and stakeholders have called on the European Commission to improve the working conditions and social protection of domestic workers within the limits of its Treaty competence. Domestic workers provide support services to households, including care (e.g. childcare or long-term care (LTC) for older people and for people with disabilities) and non-care activities (e.g. cleaning or cooking). At EU level, the concept of “domestic workers” has, for a decade, often been approached through the wider concept of “personal and household services (PHS) workers”. Domestic workers are often hired in non-standard forms of employment (including part-time, temporary employment and platform work), with frequently more limited access to social and labour protection. In some countries, self-employment is also widespread in the sector. In addition, undeclared work is an overarching issue among domestic workers, which undermines the social and labour protection rights of the workers concerned. Domestic work involves professions that are often listed as subject to shortages; for example, LTC workers. Domestic workers often acquire skills through their hands-on tasks, but it remains a challenge to have these skills validated and certified to facilitate access to more qualified work."

"The LTC labour market contains mostly workers with a medium educational level, although the increasingly complex skills required in the sector point to the need to improve initial and continuing training and qualifications. Labour shortages are a major challenge in all Member States, and labour shortages in this sector are among the most acute in the EU labour market as a whole. Wages and other indicators of job quality are low when compared to healthcare and the average situation of workers in the whole economy."

"How can Europe 2020, the EU's new Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, lead to a stronger Social EU with less poverty and greater social cohesion? This book by a number of eminent scholars and experts is the first to attempt to answer this question.
The adoption in June 2010 by EU leaders of a target to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and exclusion by 2020 is an important step forward. However, delivering on this and the Union's four other mutually reinforcing targets, and achieving the EU's ambitious social objectives, raises many political and technical challenges. These are examined in depth in this book.
A key objective of the book is to take a critical look at and draw lessons from the past, 2000-2010 Lisbon Strategy. Another important objective is to explore the format and role of EU coordination and cooperation in the social field in the new EU governance framework, in a context marked by slow recovery after the global economic crisis. Finally, the book also makes proposals for the further reinforcement of this coordination and cooperation and for the improvement of the different instruments available at EU, national and sub-national levels.
The analysis and concrete proposals presented in the book will be invaluable to policy-makers, researchers and other stakeholders interested in contributing to building a more Social EU. They will help to encourage new ideas and innovative approaches. "

"Since 2009, the European Union (EU) portfolio of commonly agreed social in-dicators includes measures of material deprivation. The rationale for this inclu-sion is that if purely income-based indicators of poverty and inequality are es-sential, they are nevertheless not sufficient to satisfactorily reflect the diversity of living conditions in the EU, especially since the 2004 and 2007 enlarge-ments. The paper analyses the relationship between income poverty and mate-rial deprivation in 25 European countries (24 EU Member States plus Norway) and aims at identifying the most important factors that determine the risk of being income poor and/or materially deprived. It is based on the 2007 cross-sectional data of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) users' data base."

"2010 is in many ways a turning point in the fight against poverty. The European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion aims to raise public awareness, to give voice to the concerns of those experiencing poverty and to renew political commitment of the EU and its Member States.
The fact that poverty has not decreased in the past decade necessitates a thorough reflection about the design of the European economic and social model. The elaboration of the Europe 2020 strategy is a window of opportunity to put social inclusion at the heart of the policy of the Union.
The Belgian Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2010 has selected three thematic priorities with regard to social inclusion: minimum income systems, child poverty and homelessness – as well as a horizontal priority: the active involvement of people experiencing poverty and social exclusion. This book takes stock of the progress made in the past decade and formulates a series of policy recommendations for the next decade, at EU level as well as in the Member States."

"The objective of the study is to serve as a guiding framework for policymakers, researchers and practitioners interested in developing practical tools for evidence-based policymaking, impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation in the area of social inclusion. It provides guidance on how to develop tools, taking into consideration the historical, cultural and contextual backgrounds of one's own society.
The study also builds on the work on social indicators that has already been undertaken by many people at local, national, regional and international levels. It is hoped that the study will help to inspire new ideas and to generate innovative approaches."

"Social cohesion is one of the declared objectives of the European Union and, with some 16% of EU citizens at risk of poverty, the need to fight poverty and social exclusion continues as a major challenge. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the EU Social Inclusion Process, the means by which it hopes to meet this objective, and explores the challenges ahead at local, regional, national and EU levels. It sets out concrete proposals for taking the Process forward.
The book provides a unique analysis of policy formation and assessment. Setting out the evolution and current state of EU cooperation in social policy, it examines what can be learned about poverty and social exclusion from the EU community agreed indicators. Taking the position of outside, but informed, observers, the authors explore the further development of common indicators, including the implications of Enlargement, and consider the challenges of advancing the Social Inclusion Process - strengthening policy analysis, embedding the Process in domestic policies and making it more effective. Proposing the setting of targets and restructuring of National Action Plans and their implementation, they emphasise the need for widespread "ownership" of the Process at domestic and EU level and for it to demonstrate significant progress in reducing poverty and social exclusion.
The book will be invaluable to academics, students and policy-makers at sub-national, national and EU levels as well as to social partners, and to NGOs working towards a more inclusive society."