Social benchmarking is an appropriate instrument with which to mould social processes and social policy. To ensure that the benefits of progress are shared more equitably, it is not enough merely to defend minimum standards: rising standards must be promoted through benchmarking. With the reports on Benchmarking Working Europe, the ETUC and the ETUI are seeking to make a genuine contribution to the practical implementation of a social benchmarking process.

The Benchmarking report provides detailed information on the following areas of particular relevance to the world of labour in the EU (data supplied in graph and table form accompanied by explanatory texts): Social Europe, employment, wages, income distribution and labour costs, working time, social protection and active ageing, lifelong learning, information, consultation and worker participation, European social dialogue and its implementation, macroeconomic dialogue, delocalization.