Working on ways to boost employment

Date: 08/10/1998

Next week, the Commission will give its verdict on member states' efforts to get people back to work. Simon Coss reports

DESPITE scores of speeches, countless conferences and a special EU summit devoted to the problem of unemployment, Europe's jobless figure remains stubbornly at 18 million.

Next week, Social Affairs Commissioner Pádraig Flynn is set to produce three reports on the efforts being made in the EU's 15 member states to reduce this worryingly high total.

The first of these will be the Union's annual Joint Report on Employment, a document drawn up by Commission officials along with national experts from EU governments which will set out trends and patterns of employment across the Union for 1998.

Flynn is also preparing a paper examining why it is proving so difficult to get Europe's jobless working again.

Finally, he will publish a document suggesting how EU governments can ensure that in 1999 they will meet the job-creation 'guidelines' agreed at last November's jobs summit. This report is likely to call on member states to continue with what the Commission believes are much-needed reforms to the Union's overburdened welfare systems.

“Our employment systems are out of touch. Our systems of taxation, social security, education and training and economic development were built upon assumptions about work and society which are becoming less valid. These systems are failing in their responsibilities,” argues the social affairs supremo.

Flynn maintains that most existing national health, education and social security schemes are built on old assumptions about 'jobs for life' which are simply not applicable today.

Such models bear little resemblance to the world of short-term contracts, fast-moving global markets and constantly developing technology in which Europe's workforce now finds itself.

Efforts are being made to change things and all EU governments do appear to have accepted that they cannot go on as they are. But the sorts of reforms which Flynn believes are vital are rarely popular.

People who have become used to the principle of care from cradle to grave, embodied by many of the EU's social welfare systems, are not going to give up their security easily.

There have been two main developments in recent years which have led to the beginnings of a Union-wide approach to the problem of unemployment.

The first of these was the adoption of the Luxembourg job-creation guidelines. These are essentially a series of targets which all EU governments have agreed to aim for.

Key pledges include ensuring that all school-leavers are offered a job or training place within five years with the same opportunities made available to people who have been unemployed for more than a year.

Governments have also promised to get 20&percent; of Europe's jobless into some sort of full-time training by the same deadline.

Member states also agreed to draw up individual action plans designed to meet the overall goals but tailored to specific national needs.

The Commission made its initial assessment of these plans when they were submitted in late April, concluding that they were something of a mixed bag. While some governments had drawn up clear, well thought-out plans backed by new policy initiatives, others had simply repackaged existing measures.

However, Commission officials stressed in April that as the plans had only just been drafted, it would be some time before any judgement could be made about their real impact. Most experts agree that it will not really be possible to decide whether the job-creation initiatives are having any effect until this December's EU summit in Vienna, at the earliest.

The second development in the evolution of a Union employment policy was the 'employment chapter' of the Amsterdam Treaty, which is due to come into force early next year. The treaty states simply that EU governments “shall regard employment as a matter of common concern and shall coordinate action”.

Flynn argues that this acceptance by member states of the realities of the modern labour market is an important step forward.

“We are so closely linked that mistakes in employment policy in one country will affect others. We must work together to realise the potential of Europe as an entity,” he argues.

Few people take issue with the Commissioner's sentiments and fewer still doubt that EU governments are concerned about joblessness.

But the fact remains that millions of Europeans are still without work. What they want is to take their place in the modern labour market. It is simply too early to tell whether the new EU initiatives will be able to satisfy their desires.