Employment in Europe 2000

Citation

(2001), "Employment in Europe 2000", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 25 No. 2/3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2001.00325bab.001

Employment in Europe 2000

Employment in Europe 2000

Employment in Europe 2000, published in English, French and German, presents an analysis of the main trends and prospects for employment in the European Union and the candidate countries in the context of the major new targets for employment set by the Lisbon European Council.

The report sets out how each member state is expected to contribute to achieving the Union's employment objectives. It analyses both the nature and quality of the jobs being created, with special focus on the gender dimension and the evolution of social and regional imbalances in the EU.

Some of the main messages of the report include:

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  The employment performance of the Union improved significantly in 1999. Employment grew by 1.4 per cent on top of the 1.3 per cent in 1998. Over two million new jobs were created and the employment rate exceeded 62 per cent, up from 61.4 per cent. This is expected to continue in 2001.

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  Unemployment continued its steady downward trend, falling for the third year in succession, to 9.2 per cent on average for the year. By August 2000, this had fallen to 8.3 per cent. The youth unemployment ratio, at 8.5 per cent, is now lower than at the beginning of the decade, but long-term unemployment remains a serious problem at 4 per cent of the labour force and nearly half of the unemployed.

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  Job creation is now benefiting the unemployed more significantly than in the past; half of the new jobs created since 1994 have gone to the unemployed, compared to one-third in the previous expansion in the late 1980s.

The report has a special chapter on the changing nature of jobs and the gender dimension. It notes that women have been the main beneficiaries of job creation and the gender gap is now below 20 percentage points. Since 1994, almost two-thirds of the 6.8 million new jobs have been taken by women. For the first time since 1990, the number of new full-time jobs exceeded the number of part-time jobs, suggesting that the employment recovery may be developing a firmer base. Most people who work part-time do so out of choice, but some, particularly men, would like to work longer hours than they are doing. Around a quarter of the men working part-time would prefer to work full-time. The part-time working phenomenon is being accompanied by a growth in temporary working; almost 40 per cent of new jobs in 1999 were temporary ones. A disproportionate number of temporary jobs are unskilled manual ones and an equal number are professional ones. Concerns about job security, career development and access to training seem to be well founded, particularly as many of these jobs seem not to offer adequate income security to many individuals and households.

One chapter is devoted to an update of the Employment Rates Report of 1998 and, in the context of the Lisbon summit conclusions, presents the results of a scenario on how the targets for employment might be reached. It points out that these targets are achievable, but a number of stringent assumptions must be met.

A further chapter is devoted to employment in the knowledge-based economy. Knowledge intensity has become a key dimension in job creation. Obviously, not all new jobs are highly skilled, but there is evidence that, without a strong boost in knowledge-based employment and activity, overall job creation remains weak and fragile. The evidence suggests that a highly educated workforce is conducive to a strong and sustained employment performance. While the high education sectors (those with more than 40 per cent of workers with tertiary education) account for only a quarter of total employment, they provide most of the new jobs created. Economies that create high skilled jobs also create other jobs. High skilled jobs accounted for almost two-thirds of net job creation both in 1999 and over the last five years, dominating job growth in fast and medium growing sectors. In declining and stagnating sectors, they are the only jobs being created. In the last five years, 90 per cent of net employment creation was in jobs for managers, professionals and technicians.

The report concludes that 1999 was a good year for employment in the European Union. The job recovery has now begun to reach all groups in the labour market, improving social and regional cohesion, but there are still a number of major challenges to be overcome.