Memo: Restructuring in Europe 2008: Anticipating employment change

The Restructuring in Europe 2008 report presents a global overview of the European Union's main strategies, policies and actions to anticipate change and tackle the negative effects of restructuring, that is to say when companies, industries and economic sectors are reorganised. It is the first of a series of regular reports dedicated to analysing restructuring processes and their effects on jobs.

The report reviews the principal factors of change affecting our economies and analyses each in turn: globalisation, technological change, demographic ageing and climate change. It also examines the enlargement of the EU to countries in central and eastern Europe, which led to important changes in their economies.

Restructuring in the economy and adapting to employment change are ongoing processes in Europe today and therefore represent long-term challenges. The dual challenge of remaining competitive and managing social transitions in a harmonious way are hard to meet. At the moment this is even more the case, as our economies have to cope both with long term structural changes and with a difficult economic situation in the short to medium term.

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