Brussels, 26/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission is expected to use the written procedure to adopt the 2005 Joint Employment Report (JER) assessing the efforts by each Member State to cut unemployment, along with the first Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, studying measures to combat poverty in Europe and update pensions systems. For the first time, these reports cover all 25 Member States. They will be submitted to the Employment and Social Policy Council in Luxembourg on 3 and 4 March as part of the Lisbon Strategy package, along with the Joint Report on the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPG). Once they have been adopted by the Council in question, they will be submitted to the March 2005 Spring Summit in Brussels.
1. 2005 Joint Employment Report. The Commission notes that despite reforms in several Member States, overall progress in reforming the labour market has been slow and the general economic climate is far from promising. There has been little progress towards the objectives of the European Employment Strategy (EES), namely full employment, improving quality and productivity at work, and strengthening social cohesion and inclusion. Greater efforts will be required to achieve the objectives, explains the Commission. Several of the 10 new Member States have not been able to meet all the challenges posed by the EES, like Hungary for example, but it has made progress in many areas, like strategies and systems of life-long learning, encouraging youngsters not to leave school early, employment costs, pay, boosting employment in the public services and active labour market policies (making work pay), integrating immigrant workers and other minorities on the labour market and encouraging women to join the workforce.
According to the Commission, the EU employment rate (for the EU25), targeted at 70% in 2010, currently stands at 63%, meaning that the 2005 target rate of 67% will not be reached. The rates for women and older workers have stagnated at 55% and 40% respectively. The Commission comments that the productivity gap between the EU and the United States is widening. EU worker productivity growth has fallen from 65% of the US level in 1997-2000 to just 20% in 2001-2003.
To remedy this situation, the Commission recommends that Member States focus their efforts on the following areas: making work pay, reforming public employment services, fostering entrepreneurship and introducing lifelong learning strategies. It confirms that action is needed in the four areas identified by the Employment Taskforce report (the Kok Report), namely increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises, attracting more people to enter and stay in the workforce, investing more in human capital and lifelong learning, and ensuring effective implementation of reforms.
2. First Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion. This new report will be a vital instrument in the coordination of the social policies of the Member States at EU level (using the Open Coordination Method launched in 2001). The Commission recommends that Member States focus on boosting efforts to tackle the question of child poverty, improve the education and qualification levels of school-leavers, and accommodation for the most vulnerable sectors of society. It also recommends action to encourage people to stay longer at work and put off retirement. Member States are encouraged to take action to increase employment, raise wealth levels in the population, and ensure suitable and sustainable funding for pension systems.
In 2002, 15% of the population of the 25 EU Member States (more than 68 million people) lived not far above the poverty threshold. Levels range from up to 10% in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary and Slovenia to 20% or more in Ireland, Greece, Slovakia and Portugal. The population groups most at risk of falling below the poverty line are the unemployed, single parent families (particularly single mothers and their children), old people living alone and the homeless. The Commission explains that the group most at risk of poverty is children, adding that tackling children's poverty has been made a political priority in Ireland, the UK and Denmark. The reports asserts that one way of raising women out of poverty is for them to join the labour force, but that women at work require a series of social changes, like the setting up of crèches and child-minder facilities.