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The World Employment Confederation-Europe is the voice of the employment industry at European level, representing labour market enablers in 29 countries and 7 of the largest international workforce solutions companies.

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Research & Publications

The World Employment Confederation is engaged with external partners in several research projects both at international and European level. The projects aim at:

bringing more insights on the employment industry and its role for society;
better understanding the evolution of labour markets and the world of work;
deepening industrial relations (joint projects between World Employment Confederation Europe and trade unions)

For more information on our partnerships and specific research projects, please see below.

Partnership with Associate Partner Staffing Industry Analysts

Staffing Industry Analysts and the World Employment Confederation have concluded an Alliance Agreement in September 2017 with the aim on consolidating ties in the area of Research, uniting forces in better profiling the industry and in providing new and more comprehensive insights on the employment industry.

In 2019, SIA and WEC launched the European Employment Barometer an interactive research tool with indicators related to the employment situation and agency work across Europe. With real-time data compiled from Eurostat’s most recent labour market survey, along with findings provided via European staffing associations that are members of the World Employment Confederation, the tool can be used to track data and market trends over time and for specific geographies.

Founded in 1989, Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) is a global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. Their proprietary research covers all categories of employed and non-employed work including temporary staffing, independent contracting and other types of contingent labor. SIA’s independent and objective analysis provides insights into the services and suppliers operating in the workforce solutions ecosystem, including staffing firms, managed service providers, recruitment process outsourcers, payrolling/compliance firms and talent acquisition technology specialists such as vendor management systems, online staffing platforms, crowdsourcing and online work services. SIA also provides training and accreditation with the unique Certified Contingent Workforce Professional (CCWP) program.

Known for their award-winning content, data, support tools, publications, executive conferences and events, SIA helps both suppliers and buyers of workforce solutions make better-informed decisions that improve business results and minimize risk. As a division of the international business media company, Crain Communications Inc., SIA is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with offices in London, England.

For more information on SIA, please visit: http://staffingindustry.com/

Partnership with ADAPT

Since January 2016, the World Employment Confederation has been partnering with ADAPT, an international network of universities and research institutes whose aim is to promote studies and research in the field of labour law and industrial relations from an international and comparative perspective.

Founded in 2000 by Professor Marco Biagi, ADAPT is as a non-profit organisation willing to encourage and implement a new approach to academic research, by establishing ongoing relationships with other universities and advanced studies institutes, and promoting academic and scientific exchange programmes with enterprises, institutions, foundations and associations.

Activities developed in the framework of this partnership include:

Publication of a monthly newsletter compiling data and research on the changing world of work;
Invitation to speak at respective events and conferences focusing on the future of work;

Possibility to conduct joint research on the future of work.

This new partnership reflects the World Employment Confederation's strategy to position the employment industry within the debate of the changing world of work and demonstrate its thought leadership on the issue.

More info can be found on the ADAPT website, which is run under complete, academic independence.

Other strategic research projects

The World Employment Confederation is regularly cooperating with external partners on various strategic research projects.

In 2011, the World Employment Confederation and the Boston Consulting Group released "Adapting to Change", a study demonstrating the potential that private employment services have to enable adaptation to seasonal, cyclical and structural changes in the labour market.
In 2007, the World Employment Confederation worked together with Bain & Company to create the report "More work opportunities for more people - unlocking the private employment agency industry's contribution to a better functioning labour market". The study focused on the 6 largest European markets: France, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Spain. The main conclusion from the report is that the employment industry provides an engine for job creation and economic growth, while also efficiently contributing to transitions and transformations in the labour market.
In 2002, the World Employment Confederation did a joint study with Ecorys into the "Rationale of Agency Work - European labour suppliers and demanders’ motives to engage in agency work" This study looked at the industry and its workers, taking a more qualitative approach.
Together with McKinsey & Company, the World Employment Confederation produced in 2000 the report "Orchestrating the evolution of Private Employment Agencies towards a stronger society - four million new jobs for Europe". In this first piece of strategic research on this scale into the employment industry, the point is made that if regulation would be updated and restrictions on the use of agency work lifted, the industry could account for up to 10% of the employment growth target set under the Lisbon Objectives.

Joint Research Projects with UNI-Europa Trade Union

On a European scale, the World Employment Confederation-Europe and UNI-Europa have joined forces several times in research projects on temporary agency work.
2018	The results of the joint project on online talent platforms were presented during a pan-European conference in May. The World Employment Confederation-Europe and UNI-Europa also signed a joint declaration with recommendations based on the project. These recommendations are addressed to policy makers, online talent platforms and temporary work agencies as well as to the academic world. More information about the project is available here.
2017	The World Employment Confederation-Europe and UNI-Europa initiated a joint project on "Online talent platforms, labour market intermediaries and the changing world of work” as part of the 2017-2018 EU Sectoral Social Dialogue Work Programme. The project was conducted with two external research partners, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the Institute of labour Economics (IZA). The study is the first, pan-European report mapping the online talent platform economy and comparing it with temporary agency work.
2015	Results from the 2014 project were presented at a pan-European conference in Brussels on 24 March. The research report shows that agency work offers high quality work with comparable access to social protection as open-ended and fixed term contracts. Based on these results, Eurociett and UNI Europa presented a joint declaration with recommendations to policy makers. These focus on achieving appropriate regulation on agency work in all member states, as well as adequate access to social protection for agency workers.
2014	Joint SSDC project: Eurociett and UNI Europa selected IDEA Consult to carry out the field research on "comparing temporary agency work with other forms of employment".
2013	Publication of the report "The role of temporary agency work and labour market transitions in Europe"
2012	Eurociett and UNI Europa signed their joint recommendations to EU policy makers on how to maximise the role of temporary agency work in facilitating labour market transitions Publication of the Executive Summary of the full report "The Role of Temporary Agency Work and Labour Market Transitions in Europe"
2010	The social partners' European observatory on cross-border activities continued its work. Main priorities are the sharing of good and bad practices in cross-borders activities and the preparation of practical information tools. The Observatory is designed to support the work of the European social partners to: Ensure a better understanding of the reality of cross-border activities within the temporary agency work sector, through research and data collection; To gather and analyse good and bad practices with regards to cross-border activities; To prepare practical information tools for temporary work agencies and temporary agency workers wishing to work abroad.
2009	Eurociett and UNI Europa signed a joint declaration on vocational training, which builds on their joint project carried out in 2008 and early 2009. A joint project on cross-border-activities within temporary agency work has been implemented, which was co-financed by the European Commission. The results of the project have been disseminated through a stakeholders conference.
2008	A joint research project on vocational training for temporary agency workers has been carried out by Eurociett and Uni-Europa. The results of the project have been communicated in the framework of a stakeholders conference held in December. A Eurofound Study on temporary agency work and collective bargaining, has been conducted on specific request of the sectoral social partners, who contributed to the research.
2006	Eurofound, the European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions in Europe, conducted a study on "Temporary agency work in an enlarged European Union" on request of Eurociett and Uni-Europa. The two sectoral social partners contributed to the study.