MEPs of the Employment and Social Affairs committee (EMPL) call on the Commission and Member States for measures to tackle the growing problem of in-work poverty.
In the past committee the members have adopted the report. Therefore, this resolution is moving on to the agenda of the European Parliament.
Research shows that there is a high level of inequality in the labour market, which is both within and between Member States. The gap in net wealth between the wealthiest percentiles and the rest is widening.
In the European Union 95 million people (21,7%) are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. In 2019, 5,8% of the population of the EU-27 were living in severe material deprivation.
Low wages and, increasingly, wage differentiation are important factors for deepening inequality. In the past ten years, the increase in atypical employment was significantly higher than the overall increase in jobs. Part-time employment rose most, followed by short-term work.
The Goal is to eradicate poverty
The MEPs believe it is necessary to include preventing and tackling in-work poverty in the overall goal to eradicate poverty. They also demand the inclusion of a social progress protocol in the European Treaties that prevails in case of conflict between fundamental economic freedoms and collective social rights.
Therefore, they stress on the fact that it is important to strengthen collective bargaining and collective systems with comparable living conditions through upward convergence and coordinated approach to minimum security systems for all age groups, a minimum income, minimum wages and minimum pensions.
The final directive should guarantee that statutory minimum wages are always set above the poverty threshold in order to ensure a decent life for all workers in fulltime employment, MEPs add.
Another important issue is the enforcement of the legislative framework on minimum working conditions for all workers. This includes atypical workers or non-standard workers in the digitalised economy who often suffer from precarious conditions. In this respect, the MEPs welcome the European Commission’s announcement that it will publish a proposal on platform workers; they emphasize that this should include the adaptation of labour relations with a view to applying existing labour laws and social security provisions to these workers. Platform workers should also be able to engage in collective bargaining.
(Mon Verrydt)