Social Dimension of the EU ? the Pillar's Impact on European Labour Law

• Author: Nóra JAKAB
• Position: PhD dr. habil., associate professor at the Faculty of Law, vice rector for educational development and quality insurance, University of Miskolc, 3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros, (email: civnora@uni-miskolc.hu), +36308940320
• Pages: 53-62

LESIJ NO. XXVI, VOL. 2/2019

SOCIAL DIMENSION OF THE E U – THE PILLAR’S IMPACT ON EUROPEAN

LABOUR LAW

∗

Nóra JAKAB

∗∗

Abstract

Over the past decades, the world of work has been changed. The concept of flexicurity was to

provide answers to the challenges that arised. What has happened with security in the European

Labour Law, what can be discerned as the European Pillar of Social Rights has been adopted? How

has the social dimension of the EU been altered? The article attempts to give an overview of the Pillar

from a point of view, according to which the Pillar is an employment model and a social and labour

market program in itself.

Keywords: labour law regulation, flexicurity, social and labour market program, European

Pillar of Social Rights, social dimension of the EU.

1. Broad context of the social

dimension

The world of work has evolved

significantly since the adoption of Directive

91/533/EEC on an employe’s obligation to

inform employees of the conditions

applicable to the contract or employment

relationship („Written Statement

Directive”). The last 25 years have brought

about a growing flexibilisation of the labour

market. In 2016 a quarter of all employment

contracts were for „non-standard” forms of

employment and in the last ten years more

than half of all new jobs were „non-

standard”. Digitalisation has facilitated the

creation of new forms of employment

whereas demographic changes have resulted

∗ “The described article/presentation/study was carried out as part of the EFOP-3.6.1-16-2016-00011 “Younger

and Renewing University – Innovative Knowledge City – institutional development of the University of Miskolc

aiming at intelligent specialisation” project implemented in the framework of the Szechenyi 2020 program. The

realization of this project is supported b y the European Union, co-financed by the European Social Fund.”

∗∗ PhD dr. habil., associa te professor at the Faculty of Law, vice rector for educational development and quality

insurance, University of Miskolc, 3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros, (email: civnora@uni-miskolc.hu), +36308940320

1 COM (2017) 797: Proposal for a Directive of the Eu ropean Parliament and of the Council on transparent and

predictable working conditions in the European Union . Brussels, 21.12.2017

in a greater diversity of the working

population. The flexibility coming with new

forms of employment has been a major

driver of job creation and labour market

growth. Since 2014, more than five million

jobs have been created, of which almost 20%

in new forms of employment. The

adaptability of new forms of employment to

changes in the economic context has enabled

new business models to develop, including

in the collabourative economy, and has

offered entry into the labour market to

people who previously would have been

excluded. The employment level in the EU

is an all-time high, with 236 million men and

women employed 1.

However, these trends have also led to

instability and an increased lack of

predictability in some working