Investigating the EU Quality Jobs Roadmap

The exploration of European growth models continues at the University of Bologna. Following the launch of the teaching module on EU-level policymaking, Chiara Benassi (EUFutures Steering Committee) and her students in the Political Economy of Labour Markets course are now entering a pivotal phase of their curriculum.

For the next two weeks, the focus shifts to the EU Quality Jobs Roadmap and on a central question at the heart of European labour market policy: can the European Commission reconcile competitiveness and job quality?

The Roadmap is ambitious — linking quality jobs to productivity, talent retention, and the green, digital and demographic transitions. It signals an important shift: job quality is no longer framed as a social add-on, but increasingly as part of Europe’s growth strategy.

But tensions remain: Can a policy agenda centered on international competitiveness and reduced administrative burdens also deliver on wage adequacy,  stronger worker voice,   and better work-life balance and job security? Or does competitiveness continue to pull against labour standards, rather than reinforce them?

Recent developments — from the Minimum Wage Directive to the Platform Work Directive and the broader revival of Social Europe — suggest movement. But important questions remain about implementation, industrial relations, and whether “quality jobs” can be more than a rhetorical bridge between social justice and economic performance. Students will reflect upon those and write a critical commentary in the form of a blogpost.