Vulnerable workers in the eurozone crisis

The general adoption of austerity policies throughout the EU and in particular in the eurozone is having very adverse effects on the level of employment, on job and employment security and on working conditions. These effects are also highly differentiated, being especially intense in the countries facing sovereign debt crises. The following paper presents some evidence for the countries in question drawn primarily from the stability programmes and national reform programmes which member states are required to submit each year to the Commission. The present paper first gives a brief description of the new policy surveillance system in the eurozone. Then it is suggested that the macroeconomic policies adopted in the context of reinforced surveillance are incoherent. The implications of austerity policies for workers are discussed; young workers are clearly badly affected. Details are given of acute pressures on European social models in the economically weaker countries, taking Portugal, Greece and Ireland as examples. It is concluded that the new policy regime in the eurozone makes social dumping in effect the central social strategy in the monetary union