EU: social partners in chemicals industry commit to improving working conditions for migrant workers Transnational industrial relations On 30 June, the European social partners in the chemical industry, the European Chemical Employers Group and the trade union IndustriAll Europe, signed a joint declaration to combat bad practices affecting third-country workers in supply chains.…
Réglementaire Denmark: recruitment of foreign workers now subject to signing a collective agreement National legislation On 30 June, the Danish government announced the introduction of a new measure for the recruitment of certain foreign employees.…
United Kingdom: youth employment plan seeks to reduce reliance on foreign workers National legislation Addressing skills shortages and reducing skilled immigration are the objectives of the plan announced on 27 May by UK education secretary Bridget Phillipson.…
Germany: government programme of upcoming coalition gives prominence to labour matters National legislation On 9 April, at the end of four weeks of negotiations, Germany's conservative (CDU and CSU) and social democratic (SPD) parties presented a government programme that sets out the guidelines for their future coalition for the next four years. This 146-page text contains numerous measures concerning the world of work and the labour market. Here is a summary of the most important points.
Norway: new measures to facilitate immigrants’ access to employment National legislation On 8 April, the Norwegian minister of employment and inclusion Tonje Brenna announced several amendments to the law on the integration of immigrants in order to facilitate their access to employment and skills training.…
Réglementaire Poland: law passed to limit employment of foreign workers National legislation The Polish parliament passed a bill on the employment of foreigners on 20 March. The text has two objectives: on the one hand, it aims to combat the fraudulent obtaining of work permits and, on the other, it seeks to “protect Polish employees so that they do not have to fear losing their jobs and suffering from unfair competition”,…
Réglementaire United Kingdom: new rules on skilled immigration from 9 April 2025 National legislation On 12 March, the UK Home Office issued a statement on changes to immigration rules applicable from 9 April. It concerns skilled workers and in particular the recruitment of foreign employees in the care sector. The stated aim of these measures is to better manage legal immigration and to fill skills gaps.
Austria: new government plans labour market adjustments National legislation Austria's new coalition government took office on 3 March, after five months of negotiations. The coalition is made up of the country's conservative (ÖVP), social democratic (SPÖ) and liberal (NEOS) parties. Although the programme presented by Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP) and social affairs minister Corinna Schumann (NEOS) does not include a major labour market reform, it does provide for rationalisation measures such as the reform of educational leave, but the approach to bolstering full-time work emains vague.
Cyprus: government relaxes regulations on employment of foreign workers National legislation On 19 February 2025, Cyprus’ Council of Ministers approved a framework for the employment of foreign workers,…
United States: new regulations to facilitate recruitment of highly skilled foreign workers come into force National legislation The new regulations on visas for highly skilled foreign workers (H-1B), announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on 17 December,…
