The EU Employment Policy
Alpeuregio Summer School, 4 July 2012
Manuela Geleng
European Commission,
Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs
and Inclusion
1
 Outline
• Introduction:
Why an EU employment policy?
• Instruments
• Challenges
• EU-2020 and the future of the EU employment policy
2
Why an EU Employment Strategy?
•
•
•
•
Ensuring the 4 fundamental freedoms
compensating the effects of the internal market
Implementing common standards of labour protection
Europe as an economic area with a common labour supply
(labour market participation of women, older workers and by
level of education)
• Implementing common values (anti-discrimination, gender
equity)
• Counterbalancing short term national policies (e.g. reducing
budget cuts
• Improving the effectiveness of administrations, especially in
smaller countries
 necessity of a coordinated policy for the common
challenges in a common economic area
Instruments of the EU Employment Policy

Four forms of EU governance:
1.
Through legislation (e.g. directives on free movement of
workers, coordination of social systems, health and safety)
2.
Through negociations between social partners on EU-level
in the Social Dialogue (introduced in Maastricht 1993)
3.
Through the Open Method of open coordination (OMC)
introduced in Nice (2002), (first applied for the European
Employment Strategy, introduced in Amsterdam 1999) and
extended to new areas: social inclusion (2000),
education/training (2000), pension, health/long-term care
(2005)
4.
Through the European Social Fund introduced 1957
The four instruments of EU Employment Policy
Legislation
Open Method
of
Coordination
EU
Employment
Policy
European Social
Dialogue
European
Social Fund
1. EU governance through legislation
 Subsidiarity principle:
Employment and social policy are national affairs
 but derogations:
• Occupational health and safety
• Information and consultation of workers
• Labour law and working conditions
2. EU governance through social dialogue
• Social partners can fix Europe-wide agreements through
the social dialogue
• Legal base: articles 154 and 155 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union - TFEU
• Social partners can propose and introduce legislation
through consultations, negotiations and finally common
positions (more than 300 legislative texts so far)
• Policy advice for legislation
 3. EU governance through the open method of
coordination (OMC)
Steps of OMC for employment and social protection
• Common goals for the EU and its Member States
• Common indicators in order to measure progress
• Translating EU goals in national/regional policies: national
strategies for social protection and social inclusion
• Yearly reports on the progress in the Member States and based on
this: National Reform Programmes
• Exchange of experience between Member States (identifying best
practices)
• Close cooperation between European Commission and Member
States through Employment Committee and Social Protection
Committee
 4. EU governance through the European
Social Fund (ESF)
 Total EU budget (2007-13):
roughly 988 Mrd. €
 ESF: 76 Mrd. €
(roughly 10 Mrd. €/year) andere EUAusgaben
64%
ESF
8%
EFRE &
Kohäsionsfond
28%
The ESF in the European context: distribution of funds
314 Mio.
inhabitants (65%)
€ 55 Mrd.(16%)
170 Mio.
inhabitants (35%)
€ 283 Mrd (81,5%)
The ESF in the context of structural funds: objectives and funds
objective
funds
convergence
EFRE
ESF
Regional competitiveness
& employment
EFRE
ESF
European territorial
cooperation
EFRE
infrastructure,
innovation,
investments
qualifying people,
social inclusion
All Member States & regions
cohesion
fund
environment,
transport,
renewable
energy
Member States
GDP/capita <
90%
ESF priorities 2007-2013:
adaptability of workers
& enterprises
access to employment
4%
13%
€10bn
3%
1%
18%
human capital
social inclusion
institutional capacity
28%
partnerships
Other
33%
Common challenges in almost all Member States:
• Demographic change and its impact on pension and
health systems
• Unemployment today – shortage of workforce tomorrow?
• Youth unemployment
• Migration
• Poverty and social exclusion
• New world of work with social interaction through new
technologies
• Impact of the economic crisis
EU2020 – 3 interlinked priorities
 Smart growth: developing economy based on knowledge
and innovation
 Sustainable growth: promoting more efficient, greener &
more competitive economy
 Inclusive growth: fostering high-employment economy
delivering social & territorial cohesion
EU2020 strategy
5 EU headline targets by 2020:
1.
75% employment rate (20-64 years)
2.
3% of GDP for Research & Development
3.
"20/20/20" energy efficiency
4.
Less than 10% early school leavers and at least 40% of
the younger generation with a tertiary degree attainment
5.
20 million poor people less
Increasing labour market participation
 All regions have to
increase their employment
rates
 The convergence regions
have a high unemployment
rate and need more than 10
million jobs in order to reach
the objective – more than all
the other regions
Improving eductional attainments
Fighting poverty and deprivation
 Poverty concerns all
Member States
 Serious material
deprivation is concentrated
in the less developed
Member States
 Deprivation is concentrated
in urban areas in EU-15 and
in rural areas of EU-12
Europe 2020 – next steps (1)
1. Reshaping the EU Employment Policy
 Focussing on qualifications
 Rebalancing flexibility and security
 Fighting against youth unemployment
2. supporting the social dialogue & enhancing individual responsibility
3. improving employment legislation, especially:
 Regulating working time
 Posting of workers
Europe 2020 – next steps (2)
1.
Modernising the social security systems, especially
 developing long-term care - and social services
 stablising the pension systems (white book)
 portability of pensions
2.
fighting against poverty and social exclusion especially child poverty
3.
dealing with employment and social issues related to migration
More information:
 http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/
 http://ec.europa.eu/social/
 http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/esf/
Thank you for your attention!
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