Brussels, 06/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - As foreseen, the European Commission published the Employment in EUROPE 2002 report on 6 September. The report insists that in order to put the objectives of the Lisbon Summit into practice it will have to invest in human resources, reduce differences between EU regions and between men and women, as well as ensuring quality of employment in both EU Member States and candidate countries (see EUROPE 5 September p 13). Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for employment and social affairs said: "The new enlarged Europe high in employment, strong in growth is a realistic, and attainable, goal. But we cannot relax. If we do not tackle gender gaps and build up human capital in problem regions and amongst low skilled, women and older workers we risk missing the Lisbon job targets."
The main messages of the 2002 report include: the EU's current economic and employment outlook remains uncertain and unemployment rates were still reaching 7.7% in June 2002; in comparison with previous periods of economic slowdown, however, the EU today is better prepared to tackle the situation. In 2001, when economic growth slowed down to 1.6% of GDP on average (from 3.4% in 2000) and was even negative in the fourth quarter, employment in the EU still grew at 1.2% equivalent to more than 2 million jobs compared to 1.8% in 2000; the slowdown mainly affected the industrial sector; employment growth has been stronger among women. More than 60% of all net jobs created in the European Union equivalent to 1.3 million jobs were taken up by women, bringing the female employment rate up from 54.0% in 2000 to 54.9% in 2001 against an intermediate target of 57% for 2005 and a target of more than 60% for 2010; employment growth has also been stronger for full-time jobs than part-time jobs, with full-time jobs accounting for almost 75% of all new jobs; job creation for older people has been less favourable in most Member States: the only exception is Finland where the employment rate of older people continued to increase strongly, reaching 45.7% in 2001, up from 42.0% in 2000 and 39.0% in 1999. At EU-level, the employment rate of older people (55-64 years) stood at 38.5% in 2001 (37.8% in 2000) compared with a target of 50% for 2010. Far-reaching reforms in tax-benefit and pensions systems, improved access to life-long learning opportunities as well as changes in the mentality of both employers and employees will be needed to achieve this target.
The report demonstrates that quality in work goes hand in hand with both productivity and overall employment performance, and that policies for improving the quality of work can also help to increase the number of jobs. The report shows that currently up to a quarter of all full-time employed and more than two thirds of those involuntarily in part-time work are in low quality jobs i.e. low-paid, low-productivity jobs that do not offer any of the following: job security, access to training, career development opportunities. An appropriate balance between flexibility and security are major elements to support those in low quality jobs and to both promote their transition into more stable jobs and strengthen their integration into the labour market.
There are a number of disparities that exist on the European labour markets, particularly that involving gender differences, skills and regional inequalities. With regard to the salary differences between men and women, the reports reveals that women's earnings remain some 16% below those of men across the Union 11% in the public sector and 24% in the private sector. The gender pay gap ranges from less than 10% in Portugal, Italy and Belgium to more than 20% in the Netherlands, Austria and the UK. The report identifies the reasons for this situation as: gender segregation by sectors and occupations, with a higher concentration of women in low paying sectors and occupations and fewer women have supervisory responsibilities. Disparities in income and employment between different regions are likely to increase when the first group of applicant states joins the EU in 2004, bringing the overall employment rate of an enlarged EU down by about 1.5%. Reaching the Lisbon targets will also require strengthening regional cohesion. According to a Eurobarometer Flash from June 2002, young Europeans highlight the "fight against unemployment, social exclusion and poverty" as the key question that should be dealt with by the European Convention. For further details see the following web-site: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/employment_social/key_en.htm