The Social Policy Preferences of EU Employers’ Organizations: An Empirical Analysis

Supranational employers’ organizations have been involved in European social dialogue for almost three decades, yet, little is known about their preference formation, especially in social policy. Building on the literatures on industrial relations and the role of business in welfare state development, this article explores the core and strategic preferences of key EU employers’ organizations - BusinessEurope, SGI Europe (former CEEP) and SMEunited - in several consumption- and investment-oriented social policies, namely in vocational education and training (VET), active and passive labour market policies, pensions and work-family reconciliation. Empirical evidence was gathered through software-based qualitative content analysis of 57 position papers and 11 joint declarations together with workers’ organizations. Preferences were assessed along four dimensions: welfare effort (increased spending vs. cost containment), provision (public vs. private), boundaries (universal vs. occupational), and orientation (social protection vs. social investment). The analysis shows that social investment is the prevailing orientation of employers, with preferences accorded to strengthening flexicurity within the labour market and reducing skills mismatches through VET. Differences between core and strategic preferences are at times marked: the costs associated with the status of trainees, with family-related employee rights and with the maintenance of the status quo in pensions virtually disappear from joint declarations.