What is the Social Convergence Framework?

The Social Convergence Framework serves to assess risks and challenges to upward social convergence in Member States, in order to preserve social fairness and ensure a cohesive society and an economy that delivers sustainable and inclusive growth.

The framework covers the following policy areas:

• Labour markets
• Education and skills
• Social policies

The Social Convergence Framework entails a two-stage country analysis. 

1. The first-stage analysis covers all 27 Member States in order to identify potential risks to upward social convergence that require a deeper analysis. It is based on the headline indicators of the Social Scoreboard and is included in the yearly Commission proposal for the Joint Employment Report, as part of the European Semester Autumn Package, which is endorsed by the Council in spring. 
    
2. The deeper second-stage analysis of the countries identified in the first stage uses the wider quantitative and qualitative evidence available and takes into account the policy responses undertaken or planned by the Member States to address the identified risks.

Which countries are included in the analysis?

The present analysis focuses on ten Member States that were identified in the Joint Employment Report 2025 as experiencing potential risks to upward social convergence. 

These countries are Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary and Romania.

What does the analysis cover?

The second-stage analysis provides a deeper look at the challenges in these 10 countries. 

It first examines all relevant developments and determinants, for example by looking at how different population groups and/or regions fare and enlarging the scope of the analysis to all relevant indicators available, as well as longer-term developments. 

It then reviews the policies that these countries have already implemented or planned to address the challenges, in order to acknowledge efforts made or envisaged, and tailor also on this basis the final evaluation as to whether further measures are needed or not.

Key findings

Overall, for the 10 Member States concerned, this further analysis points to the following:

• The area of social inclusion requires particular policy attention, notably with regard to income inequality and the share of the population that experiences poverty or social exclusion in the ten countries concerned.
• In the area of education and skills, criticalities are still identified in relation to adult participation in learning and the share of people with at least basic digital skills for half of the countries, and with regard to early leaving from education and training for three of them. The analysis shows that skills acquisition in line with the labour market needs, for both young people and adults, requires careful and continuous consideration in policy design going forward.
• While labour markets remain strong overall, challenges are identified for six countries in terms of the employment gap for persons with disabilities, and for four regarding the unemployment rate. The analysis shows the need to more effectively integrate groups that are still underrepresented in the labour market.

Role of social partners

The Commission held discussions with trade unions and employers’ organisations ahead of the release of the analysis in order to gather their views and inputs.

Next steps in the process

The findings from this analysis will now be discussed with Member States in the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee, ahead of the forthcoming adoption of the 2025 European Semester Spring Package.