The exceptional response of solidarity to the COVID-19 pandemic has helped to mitigate some of the socio-economic impact of the crisis, keeping income inequality and poverty in the EU at bay. This year's edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) confirms the tentative findings of the previous one in this respect and provides further insights on the recovery. Nevertheless, during the last two years, some groups - such as young people - were more affected than others. These inequalities risk to be reinforced by the consequences of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, particularly given the recent price spikes.

In 2022, the EU labour markets have demonstrated remarkable resilience despite Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, high inflation and an economic slowdown. We have witnessed record levels of employment, with the highest number of people in employment and the lowest levels of unemployment ever. This demonstrates the resilience of our labour markets and our social market economy.

The COVID-19 outbreak put Europe, as well as the rest of the world, under exceptional public health, economic and social stress. In addition to the high death toll in 2020, economic activity suffered an exceptional slump and the state of the EU labour market deteriorated. These adverse developments are reflected in all main economic and social indicators, including for young people, who are among the most affected by the crisis. The EU and its Member States have been mobilising a wide range of measures to tackle and mitigate the impact of the crisis. At the EU level this included the flexibilisation of state aid, with the adoption of the State Aid Temporary Framework in March 2020, and fiscal rules to enable national governments to financially support healthcare systems, businesses, and keep people in employment during the crisis. The measures also include a more flexible use for the EU Cohesion Funds and an innovative instrument to underpin 'temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency' (SURE). The major European Recovery Plan, comprising up to EUR 1.8 trillion, involves the creation of a new recovery instrument, 'Next Generation EU', which is embedded in a modern and revamped long-term EU budget. At the same time, the European Commission, with the adoption of EASE (Recommendation on Effective Active Support to Employment following the COVID-19 crisis), outlined a strategic approach to gradually transition from emergency measures taken to preserve jobs during the pandemic to new measures needed for a job-rich recovery, promoting job creation and job-to-job transitions, including towards the digital and green sectors.

In the post war years European integration was driven by nation states attempting to stimulate economic growth and social cohesion through European trade and cooperation. The results were prosperous, and unified Western European societies were based on full employment and redistributive welfare states. However, in today's Europe - a Europe subject to increasing international competition fuelled by both economic and cultural globalization - the European social model needs to be re-examined, yet its emphasis on cohesion remains crucial for the future of Europe as a unified polity. Investigating this issue in depth, this outstanding collection is divided into three key sections. These parts: * ask how recent developments have changed the old European model of employment and social protection, and outline a possible new European social model * focus on the questions of European identity and European borders, with special emphasis on cultural divisions such as ethnicity * concentrate on institutions such as citizenship and language, and reflect on sociology's ability to address European integration and the new European social order. Will Europe Work? brings together some of the leading names in European sociology to look at the construction of this new European social order through changing patterns of employment and Welfare and changing definitions of citizenship and identity.

Recent years have witnessed major changes to the workplace across Europe. The speed of these changes requires constant monitoring and reappraisal. In this book, recent trends are analyzed and their consequences discussed, within a socio-historical context which also reveals underlying patterns of continuity. The trends analyzed include: the presence of high rates of endemic unemployment and underemployment, particularly amongst the young the growth of insecure and precarious employment sweeping changes to the regulation of and organization of work the diminution in the availability of manual work and the growth of white-collar service-sector jobs the growing participation of women in paid employment the introduction of new organizational forms and new forms of management the accelerating use of IT the growth in demand for educational and vocational qualifications by employers the increasing influence of European legislation on work, retirement, health, safety, etc the growing importance of voluntary-sector work The contributors to the volume present both primary research and a wide-ranging survey and analysis of recent major contributions in the field. Detailed empirical material is included from Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the EU more generally. Thus, the book aims to provide a current overview of the nature of work from a pan-European perspective, illuminated by up-to-the-minute field research.