This paper documents the financial consequences of widowhood using both cross-section and panel data from the European Community Household Panel. The research reveals that there are large differences across countries. For example, widowed persons in Greece and Portugal have the lowest income – less than a half that of those widowed in Austria. Cross-country differences decrease somewhat if we consider household income net of housing costs, owing to the higher share of home ownership in low-income countries.

This study deals with the impact of ageing populations and changes in their health status on health care and the utilisation of long-term care services. Two kinds of projection methods have been used to estimate increases up to 2050 in the number of hospital cases and days, contacts with doctors, long-term care recipients and severely hampered persons for Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK.

Over the last two decades, EU institutions have been increasingly concerned with the issues of unemployment reduction and job creation. The EU has recommended that member states develop welfare systems that moderate the negative effects of market relationships on the one hand, and enhance the efficiency of market performance on the other.

Among the working-age population, one of the most damaging individual experiences is unemployment. Many previous studies have confirmed the devastating effects of unemployment on individual well-being, both pecuniary and non-pecuniary. Using the data from the European Community Household Panel survey, this paper examines the factors that affect unemployed workers’ well-being with respect to their situations in their main vocational activity, income, housing, leisure time and health in Europe.

The portability of pension rights across EU member states remains subject to a number of administrative, social and financial barriers. Incompatibility of pension schemes is a major headache for human resource managers throughout Europe and affects the mobility of the labour force. With financial support from the European Commission, CEPS organised an exploratory workshop in 2003 to stimulate discussion among experts, formulate proposals for legislative action and establish a research agenda to influence progress on this important issue.

This paper presents a discussion of some general conceptual and empirical issues of increasing importance for the analysis of the consequences of ageing: the potential trade-off between ensuring informal health care for the elderly and at the same time achieving an increase in the employment participation ratio for women. It first provides an overview of some general issues in health economics and then turns to some theoretical and empirical investigations of these issues.

Incompatibility of pension schemes in the different EU member states is major headache for human resource managers across Europe. The lack of pension portability is a source of additional costs for European enterprises, and mobile employees face a bewildering web of pension rights. Removing obstacles to pension portability within the EU should not only reduce these costs, but support labour mobility and increase revenues from occupational pension schemes through greater competition. Ultimately, it fosters the possibility of a pan-European pension fund for all staff members.