Brussels, 02/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The EP social affairs committee at the EP adopted by 22 votes for and 17 votes against (notably by EPP-ED MEPS), Ilda Figueiredo's own initiative report on the social situation in the EU (GUE/NGL, Portugal). The report focuses on the: introduction of a “living minimum wage” in the EU; the inclusion of the objective, “fair distribution of wealth created for guaranteeing the improvement of everyone's wellbeing”; the taking into account of unemployment in the New Social Policy Agenda 2006-10 when the Stability Pact and Lisbon Strategy are revised. The Figueiredo report points out that unemployment, which affects around 20 million Europeans, is a “major cause of social exclusion” and that according to the statistics for 2003, the employment rate was 62.9%, whereas the Lisbon objective for 2010 was 70% (60% for women). The rapporteur underlines that if the Lisbon objective is to be achieved, it will be necessary to create more than 22 million jobs in five years.