Institute for Employment Research » IER News & blogs (tag [Europe])

Skills2Capabilities comes to a close: reflecting on IER’s role and contributions

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 12:00:00 GMT

The Skills2Capabilities project has formally concluded, marking the end of a three-year Horizon Europe collaboration that explored how skills systems can better support labour-market transitions across Europe. The project, coordinated by 3s (Austria), brought together seven interlinked work packages to tackle some of the most pressing questions facing Europe’s labour markets: how to support workers to update their skills, navigate career transitions and stay resilient throughout life – and how to give employers access to a workforce ready for the demands of green and digital transitions.

Launching a new MAIJobCare project: exploring the impacts of AI and algorithmic management on the long-term care sector

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 08:00:00 GMT

IER is pleased to announce the launch of MAIJobCare, an international research project led by IER, examining how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Algorithmic Management (AM) are reshaping job quality and workforce dynamics in long-term care (LTC).

As LTC systems across Europe face mounting pressures from ageing populations and persistent staffing shortages, MAIJobCare investigates whether digital tools, such as automated rostering, recruitment platforms, and performance monitoring, can support better care outcomes and working conditions, or whether they risk intensifying work and surveillance.

Bad Jobs in Europe

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 18:00:00 GMT

IER’s Dr Sangwoo Lee presented one of his recent research papers at the London School of Economics CEP Well-being Seminar on 22 Feb 2024.

This paper, co-authored with Prof Francis Green at UCL, introduces a new well-being related threshold for bad jobs. The conceptualisation of bad jobs often entails low job quality, typically associated with job insecurity or low pay. These conceptualisations often adopt a simplistic framework, focusing on a single dimension of job quality, thereby leading to a potential misclassification of bad jobs.

New IER project starts on digital and green skills for Industry 5.0

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 09:37:01 GMT

In January, IER’s new collaborative project ‘Bridges 5.0’ kicked off with a launch in Brussels attended by officials from the European Commission. The project seeks to identify the digital and green skills needed to support Industry 5.0 and then develop training pathways for companies to acquire these skills. The project is led by TNO in the Netherlands and involves 21 partners including high profile companies as well as other universities and, within Warwick, Warwick Manufacturing Group. For further details contact Chris Warhurst: c.warhurst@warwick.ac.uk

New report from IER on European working conditions

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 11:49:00 GMT

Eurofound has published a new report on Upward Convergence in Working Conditions in Europe. The project was led by IER (Prof. Chris Warhurst and Dr Sally Wright) and included colleagues from the University of Salamanca led by Prof. Rafa Munoz de Bustillo Llorente.

The research found upward convergence has occurred for the EU as a whole for six of the seven dimensions of working conditions: physical environment, work intensity, working time, social environment, skills and discretion, prospects and earnings. However country differences exist within the EU.

Lifelong guidance in the EU

Tue, 29 Oct 2019 18:06:00 GMT

IER and FIER at the University of Jyväskylä have been working on a project commissioned by the EC DG EMPL researching lifelong guidance policy and practice in the EU. The team, led by Sally-Anne Barnes, organised a successful workshop in Brussels at the beginning of October to discuss the findings of the study. This event was attended by 32 experts in guidance and lifelong learning from across Europe.

Following this, the research findings were presented at the European Vocational Skills Week 2019 held in Helsinki. The interactive session on 'guidance for lifelong learning' was streamed live and debated what support was needed to promote lifelong guidance.

The research report is due to be published in 2020.

UK Employment Policy in a Changing Europe - Warwick Brexit Briefings on Employment

Tue, 12 Dec 2017 13:03:03 GMT

A series of research-based policy briefings, organized by the University of Warwick and its Connecting Research on Employment and Work (CREW) network, will take place over four consecutive weeks in November and early December 2017 in London.

Experts from the Warwick Institute for Employment Research, Warwick Law School and Warwick Business School's Industrial Relations Research Unit evaluate the employment policy, rights, skills and labour market implications of the UK's withdrawal from the EU and make research-based recommendations for future development of policy in these areas, as the UK leaves the EU.

Next dates for the briefing, which will be held at Central Hall, Maurice Barnett room, Westminster, London, SW1H 9NH from 12:30-1:30, with lunch available from 12:00:

14 November - Migration and Skills: Guglielmo Meardi, Anne Green & Erika Kispeter
23 November - Job Loss and Job Creation – Pitfalls and Opportunities?: Nigel Driffield
27 November - Training Funds for the Unemployed: Chris Warhurst, Daria Luchinskaya & Peter Dickinson
7 December - Employment Rights: Ania Zbyszewska & Alan Neal

If you would like to RSVP to any of the events, please contact Lynne Marston: L.Marston@warwick.ac.uk.

IER helping prepare the next European Company Survey

Wed, 24 May 2017 09:17:02 GMT

Professor Chris Warhurst and Dr Daria Luchinskaya of IER were invited to Brussels to present options for including a new section on skill utilisation in the upcoming 4th European Company Survey (ECS). The meeting, jointly organised by Cedefop and Eurofound, was part of the preparation for the ECS. The survey, due to be administrated over 2018-2019, covers all EU Member States plus EU Candidate Countries and examines management-employee relations and practices.

Brexit briefings on employment

Tue, 25 Apr 2017 09:45:47 GMT

As part of the Warwick's faculty of social sciences CREW network, IER, the Law School and the Industrial Relations Research Unit have an award from the Higher Education Innovation Fund to produce a series of Brexit Briefings on Employment. The four thematic briefings will focus on job loss and job creation; training for the unemployed; employment rights and regulation; migration and skills. Each will present key research evidence and make recommendations for the development of new policy as the UK exits the EU. Each will also have a public launch over May-July this year.

For further information, contact Professor Chris Warhurst, Dr Ania Zbyszewska or Professor Guglielmo Meardi at [email]ier@warwick.ac.uk[/email]

Involuntary non-standard employment in Europe

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 07:41:29 GMT

Professor Anne Green (IER) and Dr Ilias Livanos (Cedefop) have an article on Involuntary Non-Standard Employment in Europe published in the April 2017 issue of European Urban and Regional Studies. The journal article outlines how In some countries in Europe the economic crisis starting in 2008 was marked not only by a rise in unemployment, but also by increases in individuals in part-time and temporary working, so emphasising the need to examine employment composition as well as non-employment. The promotion of non-standard forms of employment – such as part-time and temporary working – has been part of Europe’s employment agenda, but directives have also focused on raising the quality of such work.

Using European Union Labour Force Survey data, Anne and Ilias construct an indicator of involuntary non-standard (part-time and temporary) employment (INE) , depicting a negative working condition. Descriptive analyses show important differences between countries in the incidence of INE, which is highest in Spain, Portugal and Poland, and also in the composition of INE. By contrast, INE tends to be lower in countries with Anglo-Saxon and Nordic welfare state models. Econometric analyses reveal that young workers, older workers, women, non-nationals, those with low education and those who were unemployed a year ago are at greatest risk of INE.

Green, A. and Livanos, I. (2017). Involuntary non-standard employment in Europe. European Urban and Regional Studies, 24(2), pp. 175–192. DOI: 10.1177/0969776415622