A European Strategy For Jobs And Growth

This report by the European Union Committee examines the progress of the European Union in initiating a strategy for jobs and growth across the Community as a whole. The background to this report stems from the Spring European Council meeting in 2000, in Lisbon, and the launch of an economic reform agenda. The Committee observes that since the "Lisbon Agenda", little progress has been made and the performance of many of the larger European economies has been poor. The Committee has noted that certain worrying signs of protectionist behaviour have developed, especially regarding barriers of cross border mergers. The EU has recognized this weak performance and the Agenda was relaunched in 2005, with a greater focus on the key economic priorities of more growth and jobs. Also, all Member States are now required to produce an annual National Action Plan highlighting the policies being pursued to improve economic growth and increase employment. The Committee sets out a number of recommendations to further push forward the priorities of growth and jobs, including: that the Commission should seek to complete the progress towards an internal market; that Member States should influence one another in the development of good practice through statistical comparison of their economic progress, and agree on quantifiable targets; that the format of the National Action Plans should include not only the successes, but where countries are underperforming; that the Agenda be given a higher public profile.

EU strategy on jobs and Growth : Monday 22 March 2010

"It will be of particular interest to researchers and policy makers working in the fields of competitiveness and growth in the context of economic and monetary integration as well as to academics of European studies in general."--BOOK JACKET.

Recent years have witnessed major changes to the workplace across Europe. The speed of these changes requires constant monitoring and reappraisal. In this book, recent trends are analyzed and their consequences discussed, within a socio-historical context which also reveals underlying patterns of continuity. The trends analyzed include: the presence of high rates of endemic unemployment and underemployment, particularly amongst the young the growth of insecure and precarious employment sweeping changes to the regulation of and organization of work the diminution in the availability of manual work and the growth of white-collar service-sector jobs the growing participation of women in paid employment the introduction of new organizational forms and new forms of management the accelerating use of IT the growth in demand for educational and vocational qualifications by employers the increasing influence of European legislation on work, retirement, health, safety, etc the growing importance of voluntary-sector work The contributors to the volume present both primary research and a wide-ranging survey and analysis of recent major contributions in the field. Detailed empirical material is included from Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the EU more generally. Thus, the book aims to provide a current overview of the nature of work from a pan-European perspective, illuminated by up-to-the-minute field research.

In recent years, rapid technological progress has led to a wholesale destruction of middle-level jobs and a substantial rise in income inequality. It could also bring an era of high structural unemployment. These impacts constitute a major challenge that cannot be ignored by policymakers. They affect the fundamentals of our labor market – and might severely shake the social structure and stability of our society. This new report examines the impacts of technology on the European labor market. The report documents that technological innovation brings not only immense benefits but also significant dislocations in the labor market by making many jobs redundant. HCSS calls upon policymakers to take the risks of job polarization, increased inequality and potentially high technological unemployment quite seriously and suggests some policy measures that could mitigate these risks.The study was conducted in the context of the TNO Strategy & Change program. To download the report, please click on the button on the right.

The necessity for regional policy-makers to find a balance between shaping and adapting to structural change is well-known. But to what extent does this apply to a European strategy with a «soft» governance process relying largely on benchmarking and peer pressure - the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs? Paradigms for an increase of competitiveness - also regional competitiveness - spelled out so often and vigorously lose their degree of assertiveness, when turning to economic theory for their foundations. The authors - economists and political scientists with practical experience in EU institutions - deal in their contributions with different issues relevant for decision-makers in modern regional policy. By doing so, it is possible to challenge the seemingly established consensus on what is feasible in the EU and what is not.