Quality jobs roadmap

Key points:

The EESC:

• welcomes the Commission communication on the Quality Jobs Roadmap and points out that the sustainable competitiveness of the European Union, productivity, innovation and social progress must be mutually reinforcing. Given the ongoing environmental, digital, demographic and geoeconomic transitions, job quality is key for the resilience of the European economic and social model;
• considers that this initiative must be aligned with the existing framework, particularly the European Pillar of Social Rights, the current European directives and the EU’s coordination and financing instruments. It recommends ensuring that any future action is understandable, proportionate and legally certain, without duplicating the mechanisms already in place and with due regard for the range of national systems of industrial relations and the circumstances across the individual sectors;
• recommends promoting a common approach to job quality, based on shared indicators that may be incorporated into the social scoreboard. These indicators should draw on the work of the OECD, the ILO and Eurofound, without adding unnecessary administrative burdens. Such indicators could include earnings, health and safety, training and skills, working time quality, autonomy, equality and non-discrimination, social dialogue and workers' representation;
• emphasises that an environment conducive to investment, innovation, transitions and skills are all prerequisites for quality jobs. Particular attention must be paid to SMEs, the social economy and sectors with labour shortages in order to combine job quality, competitiveness and territorial cohesion;
• considers that any European initiative must be built around social dialogue and collective bargaining in order to adapt responses to circumstances on the ground, assist transformations, increase predictability and involve workers in changes.