| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.41, 4.12.03, p15 |
| Publication Date | 04/12/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Martin Banks Date: 04/12/03 TOO much regulation is bad for job creation. That was the message from a major conference in Brussels last week, which looked at ways of breathing new life into the EU's stagnant labour markets. The event, organized by European Voice, attracted more than 100 labour specialists and stakeholders from across Europe. Debate largely centred on one of the key challenges facing the EU member states: how to create more, and better, jobs by the end of the decade. While agreeing with the objective, many delegates at the conference - 2010: A Work Odyssey - thought that economic, rather than employment, policy is the key to creating new jobs. On the question of what drives job creation, Sean Dorgan, chief executive of the Irish Investment and Development Agency, held up his country as a prime example of how successful market forces can be when left "unhindered" by too much regulation. "Twelve years ago, unemployment in Ireland was 18% and this has been reduced to 4.5%," he said. "Just over 1 million of the workforce had jobs and now it is 1.8m. In 1990, 10% of Ireland's unemployment was long term and this is now just 1.2%. "These achievements were driven, not by employment regulations and such like, but by coherent, forceful development policy. "They came about through economic opportunities and competitiveness. You cannot do it any other way and you certainly cannot legislate for such growth," said Dorgan. He insisted that "what Ireland has achieved in the last decade or so would most certainly not have been possible by the sort of rigorous, protective and defensive employment policies being pursued by the Commission. Put simply, such policies are ineffective and unhelpful". The Irishman cited two new Commission directives, one on working time, the other on temporary agency work, as examples of labour market overregulation. "There is a case for some level of worker protection but this is best achieved by negotiation between the social partners rather than imposing legislation. I fail to see what these two directives will achieve." His comments were echoed by Professor Maria João Rodrigues, of the University Institute in Lisbon, a member of the Commission employment task force headed by former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok. In a landmark report unveiled last week, the task force warned that the EU looks increasingly unlikely to meet its employment targets, including the key objective of increasing overall employment to 70% across the EU by 2010. She said: "The Commission says it wants to create more and better jobs. That's fine, but to do this there must be less regulation and more innovation." Hans Kamps, president of the Dutch Advisory Board on Administrative Burden, said: "Labour markets need less regulation, not more. In the Netherlands, for instance, we are trying to reduce regulation, such as unnecessary paperwork, by 25% and, so far, have done that quite well." But Andrew Fielding, deputy head of cabinet for Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou, retorted that "legislation in itself is not a bad thing - it is how you do it that counts. "You will always need some minimum standards to protect the workforce, but good legislation is also good economic policy," Fielding added. Report of a Conference organised by European Voice in Brussels in November 2003 which considered ways of invigorating the European Union's labour markets. |
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| Subject Categories | Employment and Social Affairs |
