About: worker mobility
Divides deepen between member states over posted workers bill
After a year of stalled negotiations, fresh changes to draft rules affecting workers temporarily posted to another EU country are further deepening rifts between eastern and western member states.
Ski teachers ‘Green Card’ tests EU job mobility goals
European Commission plans to introduce a professional card for ski teachers valid across all participating EU countries is creating jitters among a profession that was until now largely protected by national rules.
Expert: ‘Nothing wrong’ with EU population shifts
Mobility is a great European value, and despite the significant shifts in population that have taken place since the EU was enlarged, countries should not be afraid of depopulation, Piotr Maciej Kaczy?ski, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), told EURACTIV.The case for ‘Euro-Mediterranean’ Erasmus/Leonardo programmes
The EU's mobility programmes for students (Erasmus) and young professionals (Leonardo) should be extended to the countries of the Southern Mediterranean in the wake of the Arab Spring, write the MEPs behind a European Parliament written declaration on the matter in an exclusive op-ed for EURACTIV.
African scientists slam developed nations over ‘brain drain’
Universities in Africa have been "hollowed out" by the steady stream of scientists moving to developed countries, according to the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC).
Poland frets over foreign workers as economy slows
Trade unions in Poland are calling for restrictions on some foreign workers, partly to make room for thousands of Polish workers expected to lose their jobs in other parts of the crisis-hit European Union.
Europe-wide pension for researchers mooted
A pan-European pension fund for researchers and a system of "portable grants" are among a raft of new measures contained in a European Parliament report aimed at boosting scientists' career mobility.
Study: Europeans ‘becoming more mobile’
The number of Europeans commuting long hours to work or even working abroad has risen in recent years, according to a study presented on Friday (17 October). For some, being mobile even appears to be the only way of avoiding unemployment and social decline.
Business and unions call for ‘open’ EU
As the French Presidency prepares proposals for a comprehensive, Europe-wide approach to labour immigration, European businesses and trade unions at the 2008 Employment Week called on the EU not to present a "xenophobic" face to the rest of the world.Structural change demands greater mobility
As a result of ageing populations and structural changes, mobility is set to rise in the next 15-20 years, says Stefan Schneider in an April research paper for Deutsche Bank.
EU removes barriers to qualifications transfer
Having your educational and professional qualifications recognised in another country came a step closer to realisation on 23 April 2008, as the presidents of the Council and the Commission signed a joint recommendation on boosting the mobility of learners and workers across Europe.
Commission to increase mobility of learners
Twenty years after the EU introduced measures to facilitate the mobility of students in higher education via its credit transfer system, learners in manual or practical activities are set to get their own EU-wide system.
Warning over EU’s ageing science workforce
Ageing populations in the science and technology professions are putting the EU's innovation potential at risk, according to the bloc's statistics agency Eurostat, which published new figures last week.
Commission defends proposals on pension ‘portability’
Despite failing to reach an agreement with the other EU institutions, the Commission has been sufficiently encouraged by two academic studies to carry on its work on the transferability of company pension schemes when workers move across borders.
Report: Workers from EU’s latest members prefer to stay at home
A year after the two countries became full members, workers from Romania and Bulgaria are not emigrating en masse, found a new report by the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS). The NGO concludes that the fears prior to enlargement were unjustified.
Ministers to adopt slimmed-down labour market proposals
Employment ministers gathering in Brussels on 5 and 6 December are set to adopt dossiers on flexicurity, company pensions and temporary agency work. Some projects, however, will only be presented as watered-down versions.
No Bulgarian and Romanian mass migration, figures say
The migration of workers from Bulgaria and Romania is a marginal phenomenon, according new figures just published by Eurostat. Mediterranean countries, and notably Spain, are the exception.Still ‘a long path ahead’ despite Blue Card initiative
The Commission's Blue Card initiative on the conditions of EU entry and residence for highly qualified employment is "a step towards a common European policy that promotes different sets of rights for different groups of people", writes Manuela Lusetich, migration project officer at Solidar.e-Skills
In a joint effort, industry and the EU seek to make as many EU residents as possible computer-literate. They profit professionally and in their private lives, and the potential benefits for the economy are huge.
Germany softens restrictions on central- and eastern-European workers
The German government has opted for a small-scale opening of its labour market to workers from ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 or later, easing access for engineers specialising in fields where labour is particularly short.
Germany mulls lifting restrictions to workers’ mobility
As Germany starts to feel the effects of an increasing lack of labour force, officials ponder lifting restrictions to the immigration of workers that were imposed when ten new member states joined the EU in 2004.Mobility of scientists still limited, study shows
Recent EU-wide statistics show a limited share of non-nationals in science and technologies jobs and reveals big disparities between member states' ability to attract foreign researchers.Labour migration expanding in OECD countries
A better understanding of the links between migration and development is required to implement coherent and effective migration policies, outlines the OECD in its report, 'International Migration Outlook'. The study shows that international migration continues to grow, in response to labour needs.