EU and Brexit: A Seat At The Table For The Social Partners - by Peter Scherrer

As the dust was settling on the regrettable British referendum presaging the UK’s departure from the EU, one bit of potentially good news received scant attention.

For more than 30 years, the EU has been enabling employers’ and workers’ representatives to negotiate and reach agreements that improve working conditions and workers’ rights across Europe. During this period, at cross-sectoral level, the so-called European Social Dialogue has chalked up a list of achievements covering part-time work, parental leave, workplace stress and harassment and violence at work, lifelong learning and more, as well as a series of joint autonomous work programmes.

Besides, more than 40 different industrial sectors have also launched their own Social Dialogue committees, under the EU umbrella, negotiating concrete benefits for workers ranging from train drivers to hairdressers. On Monday 27 June the social partners – the European Trade Union Confederation and employers’ organisations BUSINESSEUROPE, CEEP and UEAPME – together with the European Commission and Council, signed a joint statement pledging ‘

A New Start for Social Dialogue’. They jointly expressed that this new start should lead to more substantial involvement of social partners in the European Semester, a stronger emphasis on capacity building of national social partners, a strengthened involvement of social partners in EU policy- and law-making and a clearer relation between social partners’ agreements and the better regulation agenda.

Earlier in June, for the first time ever the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on strengthening European Social Dialogue, recognising that “social dialogue is a crucial factor and a beneficial tool for a well-functioning social market economy”, and calling on Member States to involve the social partners closely in the design and implementation of policies. This is another significant step in formalising the role of unions in EU policy-making.

It was Jacques Delors who launched a structured framework for a dialogue between trade unions and employers in the EU, in 1985, at Val Duchesse in Brussels. It was part of an important process of involving in the EU’s construction those who know the work place most closely, both companies and working people, but also showing that the EU had something to offer them – a cornerstone of the EU’s social dimension.

But the results of European Social Dialogue in recent years have been disappointing. One problem has been hesitation, and sometimes a clear “NO” to engaging fully by negotiating within the Social Dialogue on the part of employers’ associations. During the economic crisis, in some EU member states the National Social Dialogue was simply non-existent or failed to protect workers against worsening employment conditions (embodied in a range of insecure and precarious contracts, on-call and involuntary part-time work, false freelancing and online platforms).

Job losses occurred even in countries with a good to excellent economic performance. Wages have failed to keep up with productivity gains. This is why, in some countries, where social partners did not conclude agreements or do not have the capacity to do so, setting minimum wages is more important than ever before. But, a significant precondition for a successful European Social Dialogue, with tangible results in the member states, is a functioning National Social Dialogue.

Read more: A Seat At The Table For The Social Partners

US Presidential Elections: Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don’t Create Jobs - by Andrew Desiderio

Speaking at a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised her husband’s increase to the minimum wage and slammed trickle-down economics as a “spectacularly” failed system.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs,” Clinton said. “They always say that.”

She said millions of jobs were created after her husband raised the wage in the 1990s and after she herself voted to increase it when she was a U.S. Senator.

In what seemed to be a preparation for a 2016 presidential run Clinton also told the crowd “don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” and slammed trickle-down economics as a system that has been tried but has failed “rather spectacularly.”

Read more: Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don’t Create Jobs | Mediaite

US Economy: Jobless rate is worse than you think - by Heidi Shierholz

On Labor Day, the US celebrated the American worker. And more than four years since the Great Recession ended in June 2009, the unemployment rate is 7.4%, a big improvement from the high of 10% in the fall of 2009. Unfortunately, the rate is hugely misleading: Most of that improvement was for all the wrong reasons.

Remember, jobless workers are not counted as being part of the labor force unless they are actively looking for work, and the decline in the unemployment rate since its peak has mostly been the result of workers dropping out of -- or not entering -- the labor force.

According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, if the labor market were healthy, the labor force would number about 159.2 million. But the actual labor force numbers just 155.8 million. That means about 3.4 million "missing workers" are out there -- jobless people who would be in the labor force if job opportunities were strong.

Given the weak labor market, they're not actively looking for work and so aren't counted. If those missing workers were actively looking, the unemployment rate would be 9.4%.

Read more: Opinion: Jobless rate is worse than you think - CNN.com

European Labor Market: Unemployment means young entrepreneurs leaving southern Europe - by Nigel Cassidy

Record unemployment has led to a rise in the number of young entrepreneurs leaving southern Europe and heading north to seek their fortunes.

Across the EU, nearly a quarter of people aged 18 to 25 have no job. In Greece and Spain more than half the people in that age group are jobless.

Youth unemployment will be the focus of attention at a two-day EU summit in Brussels.

Note EU-Digest: EU leaders gathering in Brussels today Thursday (27 June) for a two-day summit will again turn to measures aimed at helping young people to get jobs, as unemployment figures soar in southern countries.

The summit which kicked off at 4.30pm local time this afternoon with a meeting between leaders, trade unions and employers' associations, to hear what actions they are taking to boost youth employment.

EU leaders will also meet with the head of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, and look at ways to increase the bank's lending capacity after it received a €10 billion capital increase earlier this year.

Read more: BBC News - Unemployment means young entrepreneurs leaving southern Europe

Spain - Labour: Unemployed youth turn their back on Spain

Frustrated by a lack of opportunities at home, Spanish youth are leaving in droves. More than 280,000 left last year alone in the hope of finding jobs in countries such as Germany, Britain, Argentina and Venezuela.

Read more: Unemployed youth turn their back on Spain | Europe | DW.DE | 01.04.2013

China: What Worker Shortage? – the Real Story of China’s 250 million Migrant workers - by Xin Meng

China’s army of migrant workers––more than 250 million at last count––is one of the most important but least understood factors in the world economy.

In recent years, surging wages and fears the stock of rural workers is drying up have raised red flags about China’s future growth.

But detailed survey work on the migrant work force  by Xin Meng, an economics professor at Australian National University, shows it isn’t that simple.

With the results from her 2012 survey just in, China Real Time caught up with Ms. Meng and threatened to deny her an urban hukou unless she shared the main results. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Read more: What Worker Shortage? – Xin Meng on the Real Story of China’s Migrants - China Real Time Report - WSJ

Fast Food Industry: 10 Things The Fast Food Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Think your Big Mac was flipped by a teenager just looking for some pocket change?
That's less and less the case these days.

Find out the average age of a fast food worker and 9 other things the fast food industry doesn't want you to know:

Click here for the complete report: 10 Things The Fast Food Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Canadians value more vacation over pay hikes survey shows

An international report Wednesday found that Canadian workers would rather get an additional week's paid vacation than be paid more to do their jobs.

The Mercer consultancy report says 20 per cent of Canadians polled said the job perk they would most like to receive from employers is another week's worth of paid vacation.

Canadians were the only country in the survey — which included workers from the U.S., Britain, France, China and Brazil — who said they valued time off over more money.

Read more: Canadians value more vacation over pay hikes - Business - CBC News

Netherlands Economy - Seven in 10 older unemployed are jobless for at least a year

In the Netherlands seven out of 10 people aged 55 and over who lose their jobs are unemployed for at least a year, according to job centre figures.

This number of older jobless has gone up by 20% during the past year and now stands at over 81,000.
And while 30% of them will find new work within a year, half of those jobs are only temporary, the job centre figures show.

The government is planning to reduce unemployment benefit entitlement to a maximum of one year, after which jobless people will have to claim welfare or use their savings.

The new administration is also planning to reform redundancy law which unions fear will encourage companies to let go their older workers.

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Seven in 10 older unemployed are jobless for at least a year

Tourism: travel and tourism represents a quarter of US service exports

In 2010, President Barack Obama led the historic effort to pass the Travel Promotion Act in Congress in order to re-energize our economy and reverse what was known as the “lost decade” for travel and tourism to the United States. Passed by Congress and signed by the president, it created a new public-private partnership, called Brand USA — funded with no taxpayer dollars — that provides crucial marketing support to help the United States compete with other countries that fund aggressive campaigns to promote their countries to international travelers.

Tourism equals spending, which creates good jobs that cannot be outsourced.

We are seeing dramatic results. Since the president took office, visitor numbers from the lucrative overseas market to the United States continue to improve.

Compared with 2008, overseas arrivals to the United States in 2011 increased 10 percent and are projected to be 17 percent higher by the end of this year.

Studies have shown that one American job is created for every 33 overseas travelers; over the past 30 months, the travel industry has created nearly 300,000 jobs.

EU-Digest

U.S. economy adds 115,000 jobs in April; unemployment rate dips to 8.1% as people leave the labor force

Employers in the U.S. added fewer workers than forecast in April and the jobless rate unexpectedly declined as people left the labor force, underscoring concern the world’s largest economy may be losing speed.

Payrolls climbed 115,000, the smallest gain in six months, after a revised 154,000 rise in March that was more than initially estimated, Labor Department figures showed Friday in Washington. The median estimate of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 160,000 advance. The jobless rate fell to a three-year low of 8.1 percent and earnings stagnated.

A slowdown in hiring as corporate optimism cools may restrain the wage growth needed to fuel consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Federal Reserve policy makers view unemployment as “elevated” and plan to hold borrowing costs low through late 2014.

For more: U.S. economy adds 115,000 jobs in April; unemployment rate dips to 8.1% - latimes.com

Need a Job? Go to Holland - The Netherlands needs migrant workers, say employers

The Netherlands needs migrant workers in order to ensure the labour market works properly and companies continue to grow, Dutch employers organizations say in a new brochure.

On balance, the picture is positive and that image should not be influenced by negative examples, the VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland say. ‘The solution [to the problems] is not to close the borders but tackle them, the Volkskrant newspaper quotes the document as saying.

The debate about migrant workers has been dominated in recent years by stories about exploitation, bad housing and low wages. Terms such as ‘tsunami’ are used by political parties of all colours to describe immigrants. However, the greying population and looming shortage of good workers means the Netherlands must remain attractive to migrant labour, the report says. ‘That will deliver economic growth and will benefit all the Dutch,’ the report says.

The government is trying to stop farmers in particular from using workers from central and Eastern Europe, saying local unemployed people should be given the jobs instead.

For more: DutchNews.nl - The Netherlands needs migrant workers, say employers

Eurozone unemployment hits Euro-era high of 10.4%

Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone ended 2011 at 10.4 per cent, a new record high for the single currency since its launch at the start of 1999, official figures showed Tuesday.


Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said the rate in December was unchanged, as November's was revised upwards from a previous estimate of 10.3 per cent. Unemployment has been steadily rising over the past year — in December 2010, it stood at 9.5 per cent — largely because of Europe's debt crisis. The agency said just under 16.5 million people were unemployed in the eurozone, up 751,000 on the year before.

The highest unemployment rate remains in Spain, where 22.9 per cent of the working population were without work, though Greece is nearing with 19.2 per cent rate. The lowest rate in the eurozone is Austria's 4.1 per cent.


For more: Eurozone unemployment hits Euro-era high - Business - CBC News

USA labor: The Real Employment Situation Report - by Lance Roberts

While Friday's US employment data was certainly better than a "sharp stick in the eye" the reality is that the economy is currently struggling along at a very anemic pace. Without employment growing fast enough to offset labor pool overhang we are unlikely to reduce the real unemployment problem that persist in the U.S. This bodes poorly for the consumer, the economy and ultimately the markets as this weakness leaves all three very susceptible to unexpected system shocks. While we certainly hope for the best - "hope" is not an investment strategy that we can use.

In order for the US to return to the long term trend of employment by 2020 we will need to be creating nearly 400,000 jobs each month. This of course is a far cry from 120,000 that we saw this month. With the employment to population ratio remaining at levels not seen since 1984 the real pressure on the economy remains focused on the consumer.

There are two very negative ramifications of this large and "available" labor pool. The first is that the longer an individual remains unemployed the degradation in job skills weighs on future employment potential and income. The second, and most importantly, is that with a high level of competition for existing jobs; wages remain under significant downward pressure.

Business owners are highly aware of the employment and business climate, and regardless of the ranting and raving about the "cash on the sidelines", businesses are not in the business of charity. Business owners are milking the current employment climate for all it is worth in order to maintain profitability. With high competition levels for existing jobs, and the impeding threat of job loss for those working, employers can work employees longer hours at less pay. This is great for profit margins and workers won't complain because there are plenty of individuals that take their job and will take it for less pay.

For more: The Real Employment Situation Report - Seeking Alpha

The Netherlands: Designer clothes improve your chances in landing a job

A study, at Tilburg University, in the Netherlands, involved four experiments found that wearing well-known brand labels makes you appear wealthier, more worthy of respect and can even help you bag a better job.

The researchers tested reactions to well-known brands when judging status and wealth, responding to an invitation to take part in a survey, assessing a potential employee and being asked to give to charity.

In one test, women who wore a well-known brand on their polo shirt were given almost twice as much money when they solicited for charity than when they wore non-designer outfits. In another, wearing branded clothes not only increased a man's chances of being judged suitable for a job, but even increased the salary those surveyed would offer him by 9 per cent.

EU-Digest

In Britain foreigners take 2 out of 3 new jobs: 200k vacancies filled by those born overseas - by Steve Doughty

Just a third of all jobs created last year went to British-born workers, official figures indicate.

They show that only 100,000 of the 297,000 workers who began new posts between July and September 2010 were native Britons.

Of the rest, 90,000 were born in Poland and other Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004, and the remainder were born elsewhere in the world.

Note EU-Digest: If the majority of people chosen to fill vacant jobs in a country are foreign born citizens it shows they are either better qualified than local born citizens, or that the hiring system is flawed. Obviously the latter is very unlikely in a Democratic society like Britain. So maybe the British should look at their own educational system for answers? Anti-immigration rhetoric or policies only means shooting yourself in the foot.

For more: Foreigners take 2 out of 3 new jobs: 200k vacancies filled by those born overseas | Mail Online

Britain tops jobless league table

Nearly one in eight British households has no-one in work, the highest rate of the six largest EU economies, according to a think tank report.

The UK has a total of 11.5% of households where no adults are working, compared to 10.5% in France, 9.2% in Germany and only 6% in the Netherlands, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) study has shown.

For more: The Press Association: Britain tops jobless league table

Grim US Jobs report: 85,000 lost in December

Dashing hopes that December would be a job-generator, the Labor Department on Friday reported a net nationwide loss of 85,000 jobs for the month.

The unemployment rate stayed steady at 10 percent, but analysts quickly pointed out that was a bit misleading because 661,000 job-seekers simply stopped seeking jobs, mucking up an already ambiguous picture of the job market.

For the complete report: Another grim U.S. jobs report — 85,000 lost in December - San Jose Mercury News

Euro area unemployment unchanged - UPI.com

EU-Digest

UPI - Unemployment in the euro area was unchanged in October, but rose in the 27-member European Union to 9.3 percent compared with 9.2 percent a month ago, Eurostat said Tuesday. Eurostat said 22.5 million workers were unemployed in the European Union. More than 15 million of those are in the euro area. The Netherlands has the lowest unemployment rate at 3.7 percent. The highest rate is in Latvia, where unemployment is at 20.9 percent. In Spain, unemployment is at 19.3 percent.

NYT: American Wages Are Out of Balance - by Edward Hadas and Martin Hutchinson

Will Americans be able to sustain their life style?

For the complete report from the NYTimes.com click on this link

American workers are overpaid, relative to equally productive employees elsewhere doing the same work. If the global economy is to get into balance, that gap must close. Americans take advantage of the higher productivity that makes their country rich: better education and infrastructure, abundant capital and a strong work ethic. But how much higher should American wages be? The answer depends in large part on two measures: the difference in productivity in making goods that can be traded across borders, and the quantity of such goods. Both measures point to a narrowing wage gap. Many factors are raising productivity in poor countries. Fast development, cheap capital and more efficient shipping all help. Cheap communication via the Internet reduces costs and makes it easy to trade many more goods and especially services. The global wage gap has been narrowing, but recent labor market statistics in the United States suggest the adjustment has not gone far enough.

Global wage convergence is great for the poor but tough on the overpaid. It’s possible to run the numbers to show that American manufacturing workers should take average real wage cuts of as much as 20 percent to get into global balance. The required cut may be smaller. But if American wages get stuck above global market-clearing levels, as in the 1930s, the result could well be something approaching Depression-era levels of unemployment.