Key employment and social challenges in view of the 2026 European Semester: consultation of EU social partners – Employers’ views

Introduction

This year’s preparation of the 2026 Semester Autumn Package takes place in a yet more complicated context. Increasing geopolitical uncertainty, challenges related to trade relations, reduced fiscal space and the need for strategic investments, notably in security and defense, require creating conditions that foster growth and strengthen Europe’s capacity to sustain both economic resilience and social cohesion.

For European employers the best way to ensure that economic and social progress go hand-in-hand is to create conditions for a simultaneous increase of productivity and employment. It is a persisting challenge: since decades Member States continue not to be able to increase both productivity and employment at the same time.

Europe’s productivity lag reflects deeper structural imbalances, including limited innovation and digital uptake as well as underinvestment in key services and infrastructure that underpins investment. Ensuring that productivity and employment growth happen simultaneously is also the best way to maximize the capacity to create quality jobs in Europe.