The stairs are moving

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I grew up with the idea that a career was linear, progressive, just like the ladder it is often associated with. My father worked all his life in the same company, as did most of the people I looked up to when I was younger.

Today, I don’t see the ladder anymore. What comes to my mind, rather, when thinking about careers is the big staircase in Hogwarts. You start climbing and the stairs move up and down and you never know where you end up.

Well, preferably not in front of a three-headed, slobbering dog called Fluffy.

This analogy, which also shows my undeniable Harry Potter attachment, comes to my mind as I go through my own personal career change. Today marks my last day working as an EU economy reporter for Euractiv and my last day working as a journalist in Brussels, at least for some time.

Time for moving stairs

Although studies tracking career changes are scarce, available data shows that workers are more likely to change their jobs multiple times today compared to the past.

According to the OECD, in the last decade, the number of people with a job tenure longer than 10 years has significantly declined, especially among younger workers. Meanwhile, job tenure between one and five years has become more common.

But young workers – especially Gen Zs – are also more likely to change careers in their life.

There are several reasons behind this. Sometimes it is for a higher pay, sometimes to find a more fitting position in terms of skills, values or work-life balance. Sometimes it is the only choice, especially where youth unemployment is higher and job stability lower.

‘’People are trying to figure out how to cope and get by,’’ says Rebecca Christie, a Bruegel fellow and columnist for Reuters Breakingviews, adding that ‘’some people are able to run with it and find ways to thrive in a new and more dynamic economy.’’

Ups and downs

Switching careers can indeed benefit workers, in her view.

‘’People who are flexible, who can do more than one thing are people who, in the middle and later stages of their career, are more likely to stay innovative and resilient, more able to adjust with the economy.’’

Workers able to transfer their skills might also help fill some of the labour market gaps.

‘’We don’t have to reskill somebody if they’re already dynamically looking at how their skill set can transfer to other things,’’ Christie said.

But there are downsides too, which can prevent workers from moving across sectors.

‘’Credentialism is something that can get in the way,’’ Christie said.

‘’If you have a career that is a story rather than a recognisable set of conforming credentials, that can make it harder to get through general application processes.’’

And there is also risk aversion. Changing careers is not always an obvious choice if you already have a stable job.

Back to Hogwarts

Sometimes the stairs start moving without you fully realising it – something I felt rang true in my case. 

Who knows? The stairs might start moving again soon and bring me back to Brussels.

But for the moment, au revoir!

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Chart of the week

The EU corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD) – a law ensuring corporate accountability for human rights and environmental violations – is reaching its final negotiations steps, with a trilogue set to take place on 22 November.

Member states’ attempts to water down the proposed law, in particular by excluding the financial sector, are worrying civil society organisations and other supporters of broad mandatory due diligence rules.

The CSDDD would for the first time ensure all EU countries introduce due diligence requirements. So far due diligence initiatives have only been taken by a limited number of countries, only by France and Germany in the EU, and differ from region to region. The US has put in place an act to ban products made by forced labour in Xinjiang, while China has introduced guidelines on responsible business.

Worldwide, most companies currently rely on voluntary due diligence requirements, like the OECD guidelines which were recently updated. The following table shows the alignment of the EU institutions’ positions on the proposed CSDDD with the OECD guidelines, showing how the EU law is less ambitious on many aspects, from the scope of the directive to civil liability.

Graph by Esther Snippe

Following the final trilogue negotiations, and taking into account the Council’s current attempts to limit the obligations, the EU law will likely be only partially aligned with the current voluntary standards for due diligence requirements.

You can find all previous editions of the Economy Brief Chart of the week here.

Economic Policy Roundup

Commission unveils package to attract migrant workers to EU labour market. On 15 November, the European Commission put forward a series of voluntary measures to facilitate the employment of third-country nationals in the EU in a bid to boost legal migration pathways and help member states address widespread skills and labour shortages. The proposal seeks to help match European employers with non-EU workers, as well as facilitate the recognition of their qualifications.

EU Commission launches tool to cut red tape for exporters. On 13 November, the EU Commission launched what it calls the “Access2Conformity” tool. According to the Commission, the tool should help EU exporters identify where in the EU they can perform product testing and certification for products that benefit from a mutual recognition agreement with a third country.

Court ruling slashes 60 billion off German climate fund. A ruling by the German Federal Constitutional Court on 15 November has slashed €60 billion off the “Climate and Transformation Fund”, a fund set up by the German government to support green investments such as for renewable energy, buildings renovations and electric mobility. The €60 billion was initially approved as debt during the COVID-19 crisis in 2021, using a derogation from the country’s constitutional “debt brake” that limits public borrowing. When they weren’t needed for COVID-related expenses, they were transferred into the climate fund, which was however unconstitutional, according to the court. The government now needs to search for new sources for the €60 billion or cut spending from the climate fund.

European Parliament and EU Council agree on 2024 EU budget. Parliament and the member states’ representatives agreed on a budget of €189.4 billion for 2024, following a conciliation meeting between the institutions on Saturday (11 November). Compared to the Council’s position demanding a lower 2024 budget of €187 billion, the Parliament managed to avoid cuts and secure additional funding, including €60 million for Erasmus+, €85 million for the research programme Horizon Europe, and €150 million in support for the neighbourhood. Read more.

EU trade union chief criticises EU fiscal rules. The new EU rules for national debts and deficits will limit member states’ ability to act on climate change in a socially fair manner, the secretary general of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Esther Lynch, told Euractiv in an interview, warning against a return of austerity across the bloc. Read more.

Workers in central and eastern EU have longer working hours and shorter leave entitlements

The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World’s Fish

Additional reporting by Jànos Allenbach-Ammann, Jonathan Packroff and Théo Bourgery-Gonse.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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