EU industries face a number of challenges in the Single Market, which influence the future of European competitiveness, as outlined by Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank President in his 2024 report. 

In her political guidelines 2024-2029, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the Quality Jobs Roadmap to ensure competitiveness and prosperity in the EU. The Roadmap builds on several previous initiatives, such as the Competitiveness Compass, the Union of Skills, and the Clean Industrial Deal, which consider quality jobs as key to competitiveness, sustainable growth and a strong European social model.

The Commission ran a public consultation with feedback period from 1 to 29 July 2025. 

In her State of the Union Speech 2025, von der Leyen referred to the initiative as a preparatory step to a Quality Jobs Act, foreseen in the Commission Work Programme for 2026. 

On 4 December 2025, the Commission put forward the Quality Jobs Roadmap communication.

The Roadmap focuses on the areas where EU action can make the greatest difference:

• Creating and maintaining quality jobs across the EU;
• Ensuring fairness and modernisation in the world of work;
• Supporting workers and employers in the green, digital and demographic transitions;
• Strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining;
• Ensuring effective access to rights, quality public services and adequate investment.

The Roadmap has been developed based on extensive consultations with European and national trade unions and employer organisations (‘social partners'), mobilising around 200 organisations across the EU and engaging in more than 50 discussions in all Member States.

The Commission also launched a first-stage consultation on the Quality Jobs Act, a new legislative proposal foreseen for 2026. 

The consultation focused on the following areas:

- Algorithmic management and artificial intelligence (AI) at work;

- Safety and health at work;

- Subcontracting; and

- Enforcement and role of social partners.

The feedback period ran until 29 January 2026.

References:

• European Commission, Clean Industrial Deal, website
• European Commission, The future of European competitiveness: Report by Mario Draghi, press release, 9 September 2024
• Ursula von der Leyen, Political guidelines for the next European Commission 2024-2029
• European Commission, State of the Union 2025, 10 September 2025
• European Commission, Commission Work Programme 2026 and annexes
• European Commission, Commission sets out roadmap for future-proof quality jobs in a competitive EU, press release, 4 December 2025
• European Commission, Communication on Quality Jobs Roadmap, COM/2025/944, 4 December 2025
• European Commission, First-phase consultation of social partners on Quality Jobs Act, 4 December 2025

Author: Marketa Pape, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu