By Clémence Berson and Marco Weissler Published as part of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 3/2025. In most euro area countries, average hours worked (AHW) per employee have been falling since 2020 and remain below their pre-pandemic levels. The decline was particularly strong in 2020 owing to policy measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. National accounts data show that, in the fourth quarter of 2024, AHW were still 1.8% lower than a decade before (Chart A) despite the proportion of part-time workers...

WASHINGTON — On the 29th of April, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, together with the United States Department of the Treasury, hosted representatives of the European Commission in Washington for the seventh meeting of the Joint Committee established under the 2017 U.S.-EU Agreement on Prudential Measures Regarding Insurance and Reinsurance (“the Agreement”). The Agreement is a “covered agreement” under the Dodd-Frank Act for the United States and is an agreement under Articles 114 and 218 of the...

Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship research and innovation programme for 2021-2027, is proving to be a major driver of economic and societal benefits. For every euro of costs to EU society, the programme is expected to generate up to six euros in benefits for EU citizens by 2045. In terms of economic growth, every euro of EU contribution is estimated to generate up to €11 in GDP gains by 2045, according to an evaluation of the Commission released today. With a...

The Commission is investing €910 million under the 2024 edition of the European Defence Fund (EDF) to create a strong and innovative defence industry in Europe. These investments aim to close key capability gaps—like force mobility and drone defence—through innovation and collaboration across European science and industry. Moreover, and for the first time, Ukrainian defence industries can be associated to EDF projects. The strengthened cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defence industries, builds on outreach efforts by the EU Defence Innovation Office in...

Money market rates efficiently reflected changes in the ECB’s deposit facility rate, used by Governing Council to steer monetary policy stance Increased daily money market activity, dominated by secured and foreign exchange swap segments High concentration in short-term tenors, with non-banks being most active counterparties The European Central Bank (ECB) today published its Euro money market study 2024. The study shows that daily turnover in the euro money market grew by 38% to €1.8 trillion in the two years to...

Post-tax incomes increased in almost three-quarters of OECD countries in 2024, as real wages recovered and labour taxes increased slightly, according to a new OECD report. With inflation rates falling across the OECD, Taxing Wages 2025 reveals that the post-tax income of a single worker earning the average wage increased in real terms in 28 of the 38 OECD countries in 2024, having declined in 21 countries in 2023 and 33 countries in 2022. The new OECD analysis provides cross-country comparison of the...