Jobless youth fuel European reform debate

The European Commission's Joint Employment Report (JER) adopted 19 February 2007 assesses Member States’ implementation of their national reform programmes in the area of employment. It underlines the need for more rigorous reforms, in particular to better balance flexibility with security in the job market – the flexicurity approach. The Commission also puts forward specific national recommendations to most Member States. The JER is the jobs analysis of the Jobs and Growth strategy. As it is jointly adopted by the Commission and Member States, it is an important step in delivering the Lisbon objectives. The recommendations cover the three strands of the integrated guidelines for the Growth and Jobs strategy which relate to macro-economic, micro-economic and employment reforms. A proposed recommendation signifies that - in the Commission's view - although there may have been some progress, the Member State concerned still needs to reinforce or speed up its efforts in this area.
In October 2007, the Commission will receive a new set of national reports which will concentrate on addressing the implementation of the recommendations.

European Commission: Press Release, IP/07/202: EU reform strategy delivering jobs, says new report http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/202&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: MEMO/07/65: Joint Employment Report 2006 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/65&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities: Draft Joint Employment Report 2006 http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/news/2007/feb/070207_en.pdf

---