The EU has made job creation one of the central priorities of its Europe 2020 strategy, which is supposed to restore growth in the Union's economies following the financial and economic crises of the past three years.
The crises are calculated to have cost four million jobs, taking employment in the EU back to 2006 levels. The Europe 2020 strategy aims to increase the proportion of the population aged 20-64 in employment to 75%. The average is currently 69%, significantly lower than in other parts of the world.
Job creation is addressed specifically by two of the seven “flagship initiatives” that make up the strategy: “an agenda for new skills and jobs” and “youth on the move”.
The idea of the first initiative is that the potential workforce should be helped to meet new conditions and requirements in the labour market, adjust to career changes and raise productivity levels. The European Commission wants to fine-tune the use of flexicurity to react to economic changes and raise employment levels.
It also says efforts should be made to ensure a better match between supply and demand in labour markets by encouraging mobility within the EU and developing a labour migration policy.
Training schemes
The Commission wants to extend the principle of life-long learning by offering more flexible routes for training and boosting the attractiveness of vocational education and training.
At a national level, member states are being asked to review their tax and benefits systems to ensure that working is financially attractive, especially for the low-skilled, and to remove obstacles to self-employment.
The “youth on the move” initiative aims to improve the quality of education and training in the EU to make it easier for young people to enter the labour market. The plan includes speeding up the modernisation of higher education, for example by greater use of benchmarking of university performance.
The Commission is also planning to help entry into the labour market through an expansion of apprenticeships, internships or other forms of work experience, and by encouraging labour-market mobility.
Member states are being asked to gear their education systems more closely to labour-market needs and offering more guidance and counselling to young people looking for their first jobs.
