The role of our team was to help identify relevant statistical material, to analyse this and to present the results in a visual form.

The report was published at the beginning of 2000 and highlights the diversity of arrangements governing "work" in the Union, as well as the main forces and trends which are evident. It also looks at the potential impact of enlargement and allays some of the fears of large scale job losses as countries with low labour costs accede to the Union.

Analysis of working time

The report examines the development of working time, not only the total hours worked, but the way in which these are distributed between those working part-time or at the weekend. The reasons underlying the decline in average weekly working hours are also analysed - with increased part-time employment and changing sectoral composition seen as the main explanatory factors, rather than any genuine fall in hours among those working full-time.

 

Macro-economic background

The underlying macro-economic forces that have shaped the labour market over the last 20 years are analysed in detail, with particular emphasis on the interaction between wages and productivity. Comparable data for the US and Japan are also presented, indicating that in the early 1990s unit labour costs in the Union fell below those in the US, whereas they had historically been higher.

 

Enlargement of the Union

A section on enlargement of the Union suggests that, although labour costs in the CEECs are only a fraction of those in most Member States, fears of large-scale job losses upon their accession to the Union are unfounded. The reason is that their wages are broadly in line with productivity, so that there is little difference in unit labour costs. It is also pointed out that the Union has a trade surplus with the accession countries, rather than a deficit.