Future of social protection systems and impact of new technologies on work on agenda of EU27 ministers on 9 October

On Wednesday 27 September, the representatives of the Member States will prepare the agenda for the Employment and Social Affairs Council on 9 October in Luxembourg, during which the ministers of the EU27 will be called upon to adopt a series of conclusions from the Council of the EU. They will also be invited to debate the strengthening of European social protection systems and the impact of new technologies on the world of work.

As for the conclusions, they will adopt their message on social protection for the self-employed and mental health at work.

According to the public conclusions dated 22 September, the Member States will recall, with regard to the social protection of the self-employed, that the latter are more likely to lack protection than others and are more exposed to the risk of poverty.

In 2022, there were 27.7 million self-employed workers in the EU, representing 13.7% of the working population and 18.9 million of these were solo self-employed individuals. In addition, around 3.3 million of them had just one customer (or dominant customer), including around 770,000 for whom this customer defined their working hours.

The text will point out that, in more than half of the Member States, self-employed workers are not covered by all branches of social protection. And by 2022, more than 15 million self-employed workers in the EU had no access to unemployment benefits.

The Council of the EU should, therefore, call on the Member States to take new measures to close the gaps “where they are most significant, such as unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, accidents at work and occupational diseases”.

With regard to mental health at work, the conclusions adopted will ask the Member States, in cooperation with the social partners, to analyse in greater detail the “legal and practical implications of new forms of work and work organisation, particularly in situations where the employer’s responsibilities may be blurred, such as groups of undertakings and multi-party employment relationships, temporary agency work, platform work or subcontracting”.

The Council of the EU will also ask the Commission to ensure that aspects of working time that may have an impact on mental health are taken into account in monitoring the implementation of Directive 2003/88/EC (on working time) and to reflect on an appropriate policy for taking account of new psychosocial risks at work.

The conclusions will also call for the right to disconnect to be considered as a measure contributing to preventing psychosocial risks in the workplace.

Reflections on the future of social protection systems

Two debates will also be held. The one on the future of social protection will look at how Member States have coped with Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, and how they can adapt to new realities in the world of work, such as teleworking, “which require the EU to examine their implications for the coordination of social security schemes, the criteria for determining applicable legislation and the impact on the various branches of social security”.

Digital technology is changing the way institutions interact. “Digital tools and artificial intelligence must be taken into account when considering the future of social protection, as a means of promoting the exercise of social security rights and stepping up the fight against fraud and abuse”.

The Commission recently asked Member States to increase the interoperability of their social security systems (see EUROPE 13244/2).

The second debate concerns the ‘European Semester 2023’ and the impact of new technologies on the world of work. It will look at how the working population can acquire the new skills required, including digital skills and those related to the energy transition.