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THE UK HOUSE OF LORDS and the European Commission have been busying themselves recently with the related topics of labour mobility and entrepreneurship within the European Union. In November the TUC presented a submission to the upper house's 'select committee on the European Union'. The document argued that greater job creation rates in the United States of America had been exaggerated and therefore the easier mobility of workers there was not necessary for improved employment rates in Europe as labour markets remain essentially national in character. However the TUC believed that 'the right to move and work within the European Union is a fundamental right for EU citizens ....which should be facilitated'.
Meanwhile the Commission has published reports which blame both lack of investment in new technology and lack of entrepreneurial spirit for the prosperity gap between the EU and the US. Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said that average wealth per head in the EU was just two-thirds of that in the US. This gap is the widest since the 1960s. The old large and medium sized firms, particularly concentrated in Germany, were no longer seen as sufficiently creative, a view confirmed by the numerous redundancies they have announced as the European economy slows down. These firms do not come out well either in the field of new technology investment where private corporations in the US contribute twice as much as they do in Europe, One of the reports that the Commissioner was commenting on was 'Benchmarking Enterprise Policy: results from the 2001 Scoreboard' which contains a wealth of information on the subject. One interesting area is the increase in numbers of women becoming entrepreneurs. In the U.S.A. and Canada this rise has been thought to have contributed significantly to job creation but in the EU the record is patchy with countries such as France and Germany having recorded lower rates of female participation in the 1990s than the 1980s (see table below). Also, when people are asked if they would consider self-employment, the US figure of 70% contrasts with the EU average of about 50%.
The TUC concentrated more on employees in its submission to the House of Lords and it identified several factors that inhibited their mobility in the EU. Lack of transferability of pensions, deficiencies in language training, a posted workers directive which does not require payment of local rates to foreign workers and ignorance of local welfare systems were all seen to disadvantage workers who moved from one EU Member to another. These migrants generally fell into two categories, according to the TUC, 'shortage skills and expertise (for example, medical professions, specialists within multi-nationals, IT specialists), and low wage, low status and casualised employment (such as cleaning, catering, agriculture, construction and some basic food preparation and processing)'. It seems that measures will have to be taken both on labour mobility and in areas such as new technology investment and encouraging entrepreneurship if the European Commission is to reach its target of 70% of people of employment-age having a job by 2010.
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Female entrepreneurs as percentage of total entrepreneurs - 1980 - 1989 & 1990 - 1999 |
IG METALL, ONE OF THE largest and most powerful unions, not only in Germany but in Europe, has signalled that it will not 'take an unreasonable approach' to the 2002 pay round. The General Secretary, Klaus Zwickel, said that both the general economic slowdown and the terrorist attacks in the U.S.A. would also lead to a later claim but confirmed the union's opposition to a formal agreement.
STATISTICS PUBLISHED in October continue to portray Eire as the Celtic tiger of recent years but there are warnings that the September 11th attacks could change all this as the Republic is heavily dependent on American investment. Meanwhile earnings rose by 9.1% in the year to June and hours worked fell by 0.7%; inflation was at 5.3%. SIPTU, the largest Irish trade union, released figures showing 111 settlements above the 5.5% guidelines in the national pay agreement.
EMPLOYERS IN BELGIUM are to be allowed to distribute 'eurominikits' to their staff until April next year. The kits consist of the 29 new euro coins, worth €12.40 and are designed to raise awareness of the new currency. The gifts are tax exempt and must be given to all employees and not replace any other bonus.
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