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Nous avons tous besoin d’une quantité incompressible de sommeil de bonne qualité, en deçà de laquelle la santé et les capacités de travail ou d’apprentissage sont mises en cause. Or les conditions d’un bon sommeil sont largement conditionnées par l’environnement physique, culturel et social. Ce rapport explore le sommeil sous tous ses aspects : la santé publique et la sécurité (consommations de médicaments, sécurité routière), le travail de nuit, le sommeil des enfants et des adolescents, mais aussi les effets du bruit et de la pollution lumineuse, ou encore les inégalités sociales produites ou révélées par le sommeil. Sept axes de propositions, assorties de recommandations concrètes, répondent au diagnostic formulé dans ce rapport. Voir l'article...

This report presents a detailed overview of the reforms made to European labour markets in recent years.
The COE restricted its analysis to ten countries : Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Its aim was to clarify the background and relevant issues in each country where reforms have been enacted.
Working from existing data bases, most notably those of the European Commission and the International Labour Organisation, the COE ran an initial quantitative analysis of the reforms carried out in Europe.
It then identified several common broad patterns. To different degrees and with different intensities, depending on factors such as the starting point of each labour market, the reforms undertaken have all revolved around some key themes :

• a general loosening up of laws on employment contracts, substantial for permanent jobs, less so for temporary or atypical work ;
• decentralisation of collective bargaining and greater flexibility for organisations ;
• pursuit of wage restraint and reduction of labour costs, the recent introduction or upgrading of national minimum wages in some countries ;
• unemployment insurance and social security systems that incentivise return to work and are often open to more people ;
• a drive for efficiency savings in public employment services and the reinvigoration of active labour market polices.

The reforms considered in this report are mostly recent, which makes it hard to evaluate their effects as yet. Wherever possible, the council finally drew up initial feedback on outcomes of the reform process in three issues : effect on employment and unemployment, economic competitiveness, inequality and poverty.
The report is made up of a cross-country analysis and ten individual monographs.

Download The Executive summary. More...