European Pillar of Social Rights
The EU institutions jointly proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights in November 2017, followed by an action plan for its implementation in March 2021. The initiative sets out 20 principles aimed at ‘delivering new and effective rights for citizens’. The key principles are structured around three categories: equal opportunities and access to the labour market; fair working conditions; and social protection and inclusion. The Pillar serves as the EU’s compass for achieving better living and working conditions and supporting the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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From Gothenburg to Porto: Upward convergence through the European Pillar of Social Rights
This policy brief assesses upward convergence across the EU since the 2017 European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) proclamation. Using the headline indicators of the Social Scoreboard and applying Eurofound’s convergence framework, which is grounded in scientific literature and the most commonly used statistical measures of convergence, the analysis examines the key dimensions of the EPSR. The results show that significant progress has been made in core labour market indicators, such as employment and unemployment.
However, challenges remain. Improvements have been rather limited in reducing overall poverty and housing cost burdens. Divergence is evident in areas such as basic digital skills and household disposable income, indicating widening disparities. Critically, indicators in fundamental areas such as the disability employment gap and self-reported unmet needs for medical care show concerning downward trends. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that, despite aggregate improvements, inclusive growth has not reached all socio-demographic groups, with vulnerable groups experiencing widening relative disparities. The findings offer crucial insights for the new EPSR Action Plan and the upcoming Porto Social Forum Summit in September 2025.
50 years of social change in Ireland and Europe
In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound Deputy Director Maria Jepsen, and Barry Colfer, Director of Research at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), about European social change over the past 50 years, Eurofound’s role in these changes, how Ireland itself has developed and changed, and the challenges currently on the horizon.50 years supporting better policies for a strong social Europe
Improving the lives of people in Europe, strengthening social dialogue, and embracing the principle that economic competitiveness and social progress are complementary objectives are the very essence of Eurofound.Eurofound will be an essential knowledge source for the EU institutions, Member States and social partners in implementing the initiatives of the Pillar in 2021 and beyond. The Agency has generated a wealth of evidence on topics central to the Pillar including minimum wages, gender equality, youth employment, skills and training, platform work, an ageing society and social protection.
A compendium of articles organised around the European Commission’s six priorities for Europe presents a snapshot of some of the research areas linked with the Pillar; important questions for the EU institutions over the next decade; and trends that we have observed in quality of life and working conditions throughout the EU.
Eurofound’s 2025-2028 work programme sets out a schedule of projects that will provide valuable insights for realising the goals of the Pillar.
Minimum wages
Ongoing research on developments in minimum wages across the EU Member States reports on how they are set and how they have developed in nominal and real terms. This is a topic where Eurofound has a well-established track record.
Gender equality
Eurofound research topics include pay transparency in Europe, women in management, funding of female entrepreneurship, discrimination against men at work, and gender equality at work.
Youth employment
Eurofound has almost a decade of findings to support this topic, analysing the population of young people not in employment, education or training (NEETs), the adverse consequences of this and estimated loss to the EU economy, as well as policy approaches to address long-term youth unemployment.
Skills and training
Extensive research about skills in the European workplace includes information on training, work organisation and job design, and skills mismatches. Skills and training needs are also featuring in research on digitalisation and platform work.
Platform work
Research has analysed the most prevalent types of platform work as regards employment and working conditions.
Ageing society
Eurofound has extensively mapped measures to retain and reintegrate older workers into the labour market, such as flexible working options offering more sustainable employment. Research on work after retirement in the EU highlights the need to tackle gender income gaps.
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey analyses the persistent challenges to certain age groups and raises issues around the effectiveness of social protection.
Listen to our Eurofound Talks podcast with European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, about implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights and making Europe a better, fairer, greener and more digital place to live and work.
On 14 January 2020, the European Commission published its Communication setting out its social policy ambitions and describing the challenges to be overcome in the EU. Implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights will be crucial to achieving a strong social Europe and bringing fairness to the daily lives of citizens. It is the social strategy to ensure that the transitions in the Commission’s objectives around climate neutrality, digitalisation and demographic change are socially just and fair.
On 4 March 2021, the Commission presented its action plan to fully implement the Pillar. The action plan sets out its ambition for a strong social Europe that focuses on jobs and skills and paves the way for a fair, inclusive and resilient recovery from the crisis. It turns the 20 principles into concrete measures and actions to ensure that the Pillar becomes a reality for citizens in their daily lives, setting new 2030 targets for employment, skills and social protection.
The updated Social Scoreboard, accompanying the Pillar, aims to monitor the performance of Member States in the employment and social field along the various dimensions outlined in the Pillar to check progress in its implementation.
European Commission: The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Planopens in new tab
European Commission: A strong social Europe for just transitionsopens in new tab
Eurostat: European Pillar of Social Rights – Scoreboardopens in new tab
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
30 September 2021
COVID-19: A turning point for upward convergence in health and healthcare in the EU?
The impact of COVID-19 has moved public health up the EU social policy agenda. As the EU directs its efforts towards establishing a European Health Union to guard against future health crises, this policy brief examines the extent to which the EU achieved upward convergence in terms of health and healthcare outcomes, as well as health expenditures and delivery, prior to the pandemic. It also examines convergence patterns in infections and deaths from COVID-19 and in the mitigating measures adopted by the EU and national governments.
The findings indicate that, from 2008 to 2019, the health of EU citizens improved overall, and Member States converged in health outcomes, but disparities in government expenditures and delivery of health services continued to widen. Against this background, the COVID-19 pandemic caused further divergence, with death and infection tolls varying greatly across countries. The policy brief stresses that a European Health Union would ideally not only reinforce the crisis preparedness of the EU but also ultimately enable convergence in health and healthcare indicators across its Member States.
16 September 2021
Towards the future of Europe: Social factors shaping optimism and pessimism among citizens
For more than a decade, uncertainty about the future in most parts of the EU has been growing. Many people believe society is in decline and this has given rise to a general sense of pessimism. Is there a link between the rising popularity of anti-establishment parties and increasing pessimism? These negative sentiments could adversely affect the political climate within individual Member States and also undermine the legitimacy of the European project. This report identifies the key drivers of people’s perceptions about the future and explores whether optimists and pessimists differ in their socioeconomic, cultural and political characteristics. To examine the extent to which optimists and pessimists behave and feel differently, the report looks at their socioeconomic and sociopolitical profiles. Finally, it explores how the level of optimism differs in the Member States in relation to country context. The analyses use data from before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the results demonstrate the importance of monitoring how people’s feelings about the future evolve during the recovery from the crisis.
7 December 2020
Programming document 2021–2024: Towards recovery and resilience
This programming document describes Eurofound’s planned work over the programming period 2021–2024. It sets out the policy and institutional context for the programme, describes the multiannual programme for the four-year period and sets out the work programme for 2021. Eurofound’s priorities for 2021–2024 are shaped by the key challenges for social cohesion and just transitions in a changing environment in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. The Agency focuses on issues where it can draw on its core expertise in the areas of working conditions, industrial relations, employment and living conditions, to support its stakeholders, by providing evidence that can assist their policy action.
4 May 2021
COVID-19 could be a catalyst for fundamental change that will define the Future of Europe
8 December 2020
Upward convergence in material well-being: Is a COVID-19 setback inevitable?
The EU strives for the upward convergence of its Member States, where their performance improves and gaps between them decrease. Nearly a decade after the Great Recession, the COVID-19 crisis has again put this objective under pressure. This policy brief focuses on convergence in material well-being in Europe. Trends in several indicators largely follow the economic cycle, with upward convergence in good times and downward divergence in bad times. This could mean further divergence and polarisation among Member States as we face a new economic downturn, with the prospect of an uneven pace of recovery across countries when growth returns.
The policy brief presents an overview of policy measures implemented by the EU and Member States to smooth the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. It discusses EU coordination of minimum income schemes as a possible tool to limit deterioration and divergence in the indicators should the economy enter a downturn.
3 March 2020
Priorities for a new Europe
This compendium of articles presents a snapshot of some of Eurofound’s most recent research, and highlights important 21st-century trends in quality of life and working conditions throughout the EU. It is organised around the six priority areas set out by the new European Commission for a transition to a fair, climate-neutral and digital Europe.
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Tadas Leončikas
Head of UnitTadas Leončikas is Head of the Employment unit at Eurofound since September 2022. Prior to this, he was a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit, managing the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) and developing Eurofound's survey research. Since joining Eurofound in 2010, he has worked on various topics including survey methods, quality of life, social mobility, social inclusion, trust and housing inadequacies. In his earlier career, he headed up the Institute for Ethnic Studies in Lithuania where he worked on studies related to the situation of ethnic minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups. As a researcher, he has previously collaborated with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the United Nations Development Programme and the International Organization for Migration. He has a PhD in Sociology.
Massimiliano Mascherini
Head of UnitMassimiliano Mascherini is Head of the Social Policies unit at Eurofound since October 2019. He joined Eurofound in 2009 as a research manager, designing and coordinating projects on youth employment, NEETs and gender equality. In 2017, he became a senior research manager and spearheaded new research on monitoring convergence in the EU. In addition, he led the conceptualisation of the 2026 European Quality of Life Survey. In 2025, he was awarded the Brendan Walsh prize for the best paper published in Economic and Social Review. Previously, he was scientific officer at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He studied at the University of Florence, where he majored in actuarial and statistical sciences and attained a PhD in Applied Statistics. In 2014, he obtained a scientific qualification as Associate Professor of Social Statistics and Demography from the Italian Ministry of University and Research. He has been visiting fellow at the University of Sydney and at Aalborg University and visiting professor at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.
