Commission calls for more and better action to reach EU job targets by 2010

Citation

(2002), "Commission calls for more and better action to reach EU job targets by 2010", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 26 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2002.00326eab.012

Commission calls for more and better action to reach EU job targets by 2010

Commission calls for more and better action to reach EU job targets by 2010

More public funds are needed for training workers, if the EU is to hit its target of full employment by 2010, says the European Commission.

It points out in a report that the EU must create 20 million new jobs – of which 11-12 million would be for women and 5 million for older workers – if it is to meet the Lisbon and Stockholm targets for employment.

The report outlines the policies needed to achieve this. They include more public funds for training workers, a focused review of tax and benefit systems, more work on combating gender pay gaps and looking again at how to reduce school drop-out rates.

Romano Prodi, European Commission president, said: "Member states must rapidly do more to unlock the potential of EU labour markets, if we are to hit our agreed goal of full employment by 2010. This is vital not least because good employment performance feeds through into progress on social inclusion, pension reform and sounder EU budgets – all priorities of the Lisbon strategy."

Anna Diamantopoulou, European Commissioner for employment and social affairs, said: "Economic cool-off must not mean policy cool-off. The EU employment strategy has worked well until now but there is no room for complacency. If we are to hit the agreed employment targets by 2010, we must persevere with – and intensify – our labour-market reforms."