EU EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION

EU Employment Legislation



EU Employment Legislation

European Labor Market

The term 'European labor market' is used to describe the demographic profile of the labor force as well as the systems of regulation, at EU level, concerned primarily with the free movement of workers but additionally with other forms of regulation that shape Europe's labor market.

The project of creating a European labor market is quite different from the objectives associated with national labor market regulation, where employment protection and industrial relations are the chief concerns. The aim to establish a free movement of workers provided the major context of regulation of the European labor market since the foundation of the European Economic Community in 1957.

The demographic profile of the European labor market has changed significantly in recent years. The proportion of the labor force that is female has increased over the last decade, with the gender gap between men and women falling from 17.1 percentage points in 2000 to 14.2 percentage points in 2007. Migration now shapes the European labor market, and the accession of the new Member States in 2004 and in 2007 has utilized the right to free movement of workers to encourage changes in the national and ethnic profile of the European labor market. Demographic changes associated with an aging labor force have also necessitated new labor market incentives to encourage older workers to remain in the labor force for longer (Dahl, Pp 87-89).

European Union (EU) Legislation

Types of EU legislative acts

There are three types of EU legislative acts. Under Article of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU):

A regulation shall have general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

A directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods.

A decision shall be binding in its entirety. A decision which specifies those to whom it is addressed shall be binding only on them.

Opinions and Recommendations have no binding force.

Council and Commission legislation

Both the Council and the Commission are empowered under the Treaty to make laws. The Council may adopt legislation only upon a proposal from the Commission, which has the sole right of initiative in drafting legislation. The Commission may also adopt legislation under delegated powers set out in Article TFEU:

. A legislative act may delegate to the Commission the power to adopt non-legislative acts to supplement or amend certain non-essential elements of the legislative act.

The objectives, content, scope and duration of the delegation of power shall be explicitly defined in the legislative acts. The essential elements of an area shall be reserved for the legislative act and accordingly shall not be the subject of a delegation of power (Cohen, Pp 31-36).

. Legislative acts shall explicitly lay down the conditions to which the delegation is subject; these conditions may be as follows:

(a) the European ...