Authors Iain Begg | Gabriel Glöckler | Anke Hassel ... - The Europaeum

commitment for employment”, 18 underlining the need for cooperation
between the social partners as well as the governments to protect and
promote employment and mobility within and between the member
states.
Recent reports highlighting the excessive rewards paid to the top
management of failing firms has raised public awareness with regard to
the issue of income inequality. 19 The discussion about managerial pay as
well as who should bear the burden of the crisis and the cutbacks of the
economic downturns makes policy actors vulnerable for accepting the fast
rising gap between minimum wages and the top 1% of incomes. The debate
about the introduction of pay ceilings for bonus payments to managers
of firms which rely on government support will give further support for
political claims for social equality.
The way forward
Placing people in jobs certainly remains the most important policy goal
when it comes to the social agenda, followed closely by improving jobs
and pay for those in work. The increase in in-work poverty was partly
prompted by the turn towards activation and higher labour market
participation rates in Europe. It is partly connected to the threats and
incidences of job relocation in a globalised economy.
A European safety net should start by promoting both high employment
and high equality. Social equality is a goal in its own right and should not
be confused with or replaced by poverty relief. In more equal societies
the poor are better taken care of, education levels are generally higher
and more opportunities are created. Flexibility will remain on the agenda,
since more- not less- structural adjustment will be required in the future.
But the security side of flexicurity needs to be spelled out more strongly
and institutions and policies fostering security need to be protected and
safeguarded.
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After the crisis: A new socio-economic settlement for the EU