New Commission strategy for pan-European labour markets

In late February 2001, the European Commission presented a new strategy to open up pan-European labour markets by 2005. The strategy comprises two stages: tackling the major obstacles to the emergence of new European labour markets; and setting up a high-level task force to examine skills and mobility problems.

The European Commission presented a Communication to the Council of Ministers on New European labour markets, open to all, with access for all on 28 February 2001. The document sets out a new strategy aiming to remove barriers to mobility within the EU and to increase the skill levels of the European workforce. The first stage of the strategy will aim to tackle a number of perceived major barriers to mobility (which is still low within the EU). Stage two of the strategy will involve the creation of a high-level task force, briefed to look in more depth at skills and mobility problems, and in particular the skills gap in the information and communications technologies (ICT) sector.

The new strategy opening up new European labour markets and making them more accessible is one of 10 key areas for policy action identified in the Commission?s contribution to the March 2001 European Council meeting in Stockholm. Such spring summits on economic and social issues were agreed at the March 2000 Lisbon extraordinary European Council (EU0004241F), at which a 10-year strategy was developed for harnessing the power of the "knowledge economy" in order to create employment.

Skills, mobility and information

The first stage of the strategy involves a set of policy actions in the areas of skills, mobility and information. On skills, these include the following:

• the Commission aims in 2002 to present proposals for the creation of a more uniform, transparent and flexible system for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. This will be based on the existing system and will include ways of promoting more widespread automatic recognition;

• the Commission will identify a number of key areas for further development in the recognition of skills acquired through work;

• the Commission will prepare an action plan on lifelong learning to present to the 2002 spring European Council. The plan will build on the debates of the March 2000 Lisbon Council, and will aim to identify the basic skills considered essential for mobility, facilitate the recognition of skills which have been acquired in a non-formal way, and increase investment in human resources; and

• the Commission will develop the exchange of best practice in the development of education and training systems.

The strategy contains a number of measures designed specifically to remove barriers to mobility, as follows:

• a commitment to implement the Commission's strategy aimed at removing barriers to services, which will enable service providers to gain a foothold in other markets;

• the Commission will present a Communication in March 2001 on the elimination of obstacles to the cross-border provision of supplementary pensions;

• the Commission will present a proposal on the portability of supplementary pensions before the end of 2001;

• the Commission will present a strategy on the mobility of researchers in 2001 and urges the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament (EP) to adopt a Recommendation on mobility of students, people undergoing training, young volunteers, teachers and trainers;

• the Commission calls on the Council of Ministers and the EP to adopt proposals on the modernisation of social security for migrant workers; and

• the Commission calls on the Council of Ministers to set out the criteria and conditions under which third-country nationals may be allowed to settle and work in Member States.

In terms of improving information and transparency in this area, the Commission makes a commitment to producing, before the end of 2001, a study on the feasibility of a "one-stop European mobility information site" aimed at providing comprehensive and accessible information on jobs, mobility and learning opportunities in Europe. The Commission will also run an information campaign, targeted at employers and employees, on the opportunities and possibilities of the internal market and the European labour market. The Commission also makes a commitment to improve the transparency of qualifications.

Skills and mobility task force

A high-level task force on skills and mobility will be set up by the Commission in April 2001 and will report back by December 2001. Its mandate will be as follows:

• to identify the main characteristics of the "new" European labour markets, focusing in particular on the supply of and demand for skills, including skills gaps at national, regional, sectoral and occupational level, lifelong learning and mobility. The task force will in particular concentrate on ICT skills and other skills necessary to participate in the "new economy";

• to identify the main barriers to the development of these labour markets, particularly in the area of skills and mobility. The Commission currently believes that the main barriers in this regard are: social, cultural and linguistic barriers; economic barriers, such as pensions and the tax and benefit systems of individual countries; skills and qualifications, particularly in the case of the recognition of qualifications; and obstacles to the provision of information, including in areas such as jobs, wages and working conditions, housing, education and training. The task force will review and exploit good practice in this area, particularly in the USA; and

• to issue a set of policy initiatives aimed at ensuring that these labour markets are open to all by 2005. The task force should also issue recommendations for implementation of these initiatives at both European and national level.

Once the task force has issued its report, the Commission will draw up an action plan which will be put to the spring European Council in 2002. It is proposed that this action plan will contain a set of policy initiatives and recommendations to ensure that the new European labour markets will be open to all by 2005.

Commentary

The increasing influence of new technology on today's labour markets means that it is of paramount importance that employees update their skills in order to maintain employability. It is also vital that those not in the labour force gain the necessary skills and competences to enable them to gain entry into the labour market. Actors at European level have been grappling with this problem for some time, and the issue was discussed in depth at the March 2000 European Council in Lisbon, which was dedicated to the theme of exploiting to the full the employment potential of the new "information society". This latest initiative by the European Commission attempts to set some concrete targets for action in the area of ensuring the employability of workers. It also attempts to address the issue of labour market mobility across the EU by identifying and trying to eliminate the main obstacles. Thus, the coming years will see a number of initiatives by the Commission, in addition to the issuing of the report of the high-levels skills and mobility task force by the end of 2001, which in turn will lead to a series of policy initiatives, to be presented at the European Council to be held I the spring of 2002. (Andrea Broughton, IRS)