Educational improvements must be accelerated, says Commission

Citation

(2002), "Educational improvements must be accelerated, says Commission", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 26 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2002.00326hab.008

Educational improvements must be accelerated, says Commission

Educational improvements must be accelerated, says Commission

Europeans are better educated than ever, but educational improvements are not taking place fast enough to keep pace with the increasing demand for advanced qualifications in the labour market.

This is a key conclusion of the European Commission's 2002 report on economic competitiveness, compiled by the European commissioner for enterprise and the information society, Erkki Liikanen.

The report highlights education and training as important in promoting competitiveness and employment growth. It demonstrates that, although education levels among Europeans as a whole have risen, people in Europe still spend less time in education, on average, than their counterparts in the USA and Japan.

The report warns that, confronted with a persistently high level of unemployment, skill shortages are particularly worrying. They affect the service sector, manufacturing, social and health care. The Commission calls for "urgent political action" to remedy the situation.