European Commission renews social rights agenda across the EU

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EU social rights agenda renewed

Highlights

European Commission prioritizes affordability, AI's impact on work, and reducing inequalities in its renewed social rights agenda, supplementing existing jobs and poverty actions.
The Commission launches first-phase consultation with EU social partners on measures to move people facing major employment barriers from inactivity into work, targeting poverty and exclusion.
A new high-level group will address AI's labour market effects, while upcoming legislation includes a Quality Jobs Act and support for SMEs implementing the Pay Transparency Directive.

Commission sets new priorities for social policy

As reported by the European Commission, the Communication adopted today says the European Pillar of Social Rights remains the bloc's social shield and a guide for managing structural change while preserving fairness and prosperity.

The document identifies three areas needing urgent additional attention, affordability and the cost of living, the impact of artificial intelligence on work, and the need to reduce inequalities while expanding equal opportunities. These priorities are presented as complementary to existing Commission work on jobs, skills, mobility and poverty reduction.

The Commission says it will keep backing measures to reduce poverty risks and improve access to essential services as households continue to face high costs for housing, energy, services and basic goods. It also says minimum wages have risen significantly across the EU since the adoption of the relevant directive, while quality jobs remain central to easing affordability pressures.

To address labour market exclusion, the Commission is launching a first-phase consultation of EU social partners on possible EU action to help people facing major barriers to employment move from inactivity into work. It says that process will feed directly into its work on poverty, exclusion, inclusion in the labour market and competitiveness.

AI, job quality and equality measures in focus

The Communication says the fast development of AI is reshaping labour markets, creating opportunities for innovation, productivity, learning and growth while also raising questions about jobs, education, skills, social inclusion and public services. In response, the Commission will set up a new high-level group on the impact of AI on the labour market.

On inequality, the Commission says persistent gaps still weigh on social and territorial cohesion, long-term sustainability, innovation, competitiveness and demographic resilience across the EU. Planned actions include support for SMEs implementing the Pay Transparency Directive, as well as upcoming proposals such as the Right to Stay initiative and the EU Youth Strategy post-2027.

Later this year, the Commission will present a Quality Jobs Act following the Quality Jobs Roadmap, and it will consider new indicators to measure job quality across the EU alongside the bloc's existing 2030 targets on employment, skills and poverty reduction. The Communication builds on the Pillar adopted in 2017 and on commitments made at the 2021 Porto Social Summit, where EU leaders and social partners agreed to place social policy at the centre of the bloc's agenda.

In our earlier coverage of AI adoption in the workplace, we examined survey and industry data suggesting that uptake remains gradual rather than transformative. The article noted that only a small share of workers use AI daily and that business adoption is still limited, with no clear evidence yet of broad productivity gains or meaningful disinflationary effects.

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