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In a recent report the European Commission once again emphasises the importance of education to employment and the rôle of the high-tech sector in providing growth. We examine the progress made and the work still to do to meet the ambitious 2010 targets for jobs.
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION recently published 'Employment in Europe 2003' on the employment situation in the EU. It takes the form of a general round-up of the progress of the economy during 2002 followed by a more in-depth examination of specific topics including productivity and skills, flexibility, security and quality of work, older workers and integration of immigrant workers. On the general economy the report details the slowing down, or even going into reverse in some countries, from 2001 onwards but comments that the rate of job creation held up better than in previous recessions. Unemployment inched up by 0.8% from its low point at the end of 2001 to reach 8.1% by July this year. The countries which will join the EU next year did somewhat better however; all except Poland seeing unemployment fall in this period. The report goes on to analyse the reasons for a better economic performance during this recession and pinpoints a number of factors such as the greater employment of women (the percentage employed rose during the period) and older workers (up 1.4%). Productivity growth was increasingly due to jobs created in the newer industries such as ICT manufacturing where it was higher than in the U.S.A. Concentrations of highly skilled workers are vital, says the report, both to innovate and produce new products and to promote their diffusion through the rest of society.
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Chart from the report showing the variation in the share of high tech and knowledge intensive occupations in the economies of EU Members |
Both high tech manufacturing and the 'knowledge intensive services' (KIS) are seen as engines of growth with the number of KIS jobs having increased by 3.1% every year of the last five years on average. In the UK 40.8% of all employment is now in this sector, a percentage only exceeded in the EU by Denmark and Sweden. Inner London is the EU region with the highest proportion of these jobs at 59.1%. It is interesting to note that the ratio between younger and older workers is roughly the same in this sector as in the economy as a whole so the report predicts that 'Increasing participation and employment of older people will therefore be crucial'.The EU targets are to have 50% of people between 55 and 64 working by 2010 (up from 40%) and to delay retirement by 5 years (from an average of 59 to 64). Among older workers too education is crucial with 61% of the high-skilled being in a job compared to 31% of those with low skill levels.
Despite the growth in high-tech and KIS there is plenty of evidence that low-skill, low-pay jobs persist 'Up to a quarter of Europeans remain in jobs of relatively low quality', according to the Commission. Although there has been some improvement in the numbers able to leave such jobs in some Member States including France and Spain 'the overall career opportunities of people in low quality jobs in these countries remained largely below average'. However the country where people in such jobs were most likely to remain in them was the U.K. Immigrant workers tend to be concentrated in these low-skill sectors and general employment rates among them are about 10% lower than for EU nationals. The report is in favour of labour market flexibility and mentions 'a wealth of such arrangements...18% of European employees work part-time. 13% work in temporary jobs... and more than one third of them with a contract length of 6 months or less'. However it maintains that 'an appropriate balance' is necessary between flexibility and security if quality and productivity at work is to be aided. Training and job mobility to create an adaptable skilled workforce are also key to increasing productivity and job creation.
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'Employment in Europe 2003' is available at : |
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/news/2003/oct/eie2003_en.html |
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'Adobe Acrobat' software to read it can be downloaded free from:: |
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