How can we improve collective bargaining to enhance job quality and address the shortage of workforce in the care sector? Discussion on this important topic brought us to Copenhagen️

CELSI Managing Director Marta Kahancová and CELSI researcher Lenka Hanulová joined partners from Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Slovakia to share research findings on how social actors aim at enhancing working conditions through and outside collective bargaining in the national care sectors.

Hosted by the Employment Relations Research Centre (FAOS) – a research centre at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen – the second intermediate meeting of the DEVCOBA project focused mainly on comparing the challenges facing the care sector across the involved European countries and identifying innovative practices as well as opportunities for improvement.

While the shortage of workforce is the biggest issue in the sector at the moment, an ageing workforce and gender imbalance also pose challenges, along with the overall low attractiveness of jobs in this sector. As such, besides raising wages, greater engagement of young people is strongly needed so how can we help the situation?

The final event of this research effort will be organised by Social Employers, with the support of the European Public Service Unions (EPSU), in December 2025 and held in Brussels.