Leila Kurki´s speech: Combating unemployment must be a top policy priority
Ms Leila Kurki, President of the Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship
European Economic and Social Committee EESC spoke at an Informal meeting of the Ministers of Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers Affairs (EPSCO) 7.7.2010 Brussels
Combating unemployment must be a top policy priority
It is important that the current economic crisis management should not be restricted to austerity plans and deficit cuts, but extended to preserving social capital which generates Europe’s wealth.
The Committee emphasises that Europe will be faced with an extremely tense employment situation in the near future. Studies suggest that it may take a whole decade to recover the more than 10 million jobs that have been lost during the few years of crisis.
With the current record levels of almost 24 million unemployed, the labour market problem is not one of insufficient labour supply generally, but rather the lack of skilled workers in some Member States and the huge shortage of available employment.
Combating unemployment must therefore be a top policy priority in the EU and the Member States and the Committee believes that this should be reflected more prominently in the Employment guidelines.
Need for a balanced macroeconomic mix of approaches
The Europe 2020 target of increasing the employment rate to 75% is an extremely ambitious goal. In order to avoid a further increase in the number of job-seekers and to prevent employment from becoming structurally embedded, a balanced macroeconomic mix of approaches is needed that combines supply-oriented and demand-oriented economic policies.
In our view, the employment guidelines do not provide for such a mix. As far as the policy recommendations for the job market are concerned, there is a definite over-emphasis on supply (improving employability). This must be offset by giving more consideration to developing an intelligent supply policy that promotes growth and innovation and helps to create more jobs. Similarly, smart measures and employment models designed to improve the distribution of work should also be considered as a way of increasing labour market participation and creating more jobs.
More ambitious goals
The Committee welcomes the focus on fewer guidelines, but thinks that these are too general and not ambitious enough to be an effective spur to action.
The Committee has doubts whether shifting responsibility for framing concrete employment targets and initiatives almost exclusively to the Member States will actually strengthen commitment to meeting joint targets. The goals should be more ambitious and the number of quantitative binding targets should be increased.
We recommend that measurable targets be increased under the employment guidelines to include goals for gender equality, youth employment, addressing jobs that do not provide adequate social protection, combating poverty (also among the working poor) and employment of the disabled.
Although the Committee very much welcomes the mention of job quality, at least in the title of the guideline 8, it is surprised to find no relevant details. The Committee would have expected promotion of job quality to be given greater priority in connection with the flexicurity strategy. In the final analysis, it is precisely the flexible internal job markets and training that have weathered the crisis extremely well. Therefore a separate guideline promoting job quality should be added.
We have pointed out many times in our opinions that when a quantitative target is set for improving employment rates, particular attention should be paid to the qualitative dimension of new jobs, because employment at any price (precarious employment conditions, the working poor, etc.) is not the solution.
The Committee repeats its call for restoring the qualitative employment targets that were largely lost in the revision of the Lisbon strategy over the past few years (Laeken indicators for measuring the quality of employment). In this respect, the Committee suggests that new jobs should be systematically monitored from the quality angle.
The Committee recalls the goal of full employment. It was a key point in the old guidelines and also referred to in the Treaty of the European Union. The goal of full employment is no longer in evidence in the new guidelines, which refer only to eliminating structural unemployment and reducing "inactivity".
Social inclusion and poverty
The Committee explicitly welcomes the guideline "Promoting social inclusion and combating poverty". This vindicates the point that growing social inequality in Europe calls for joint measures to combat poverty and social exclusion. A whole package of targeted measures is required here.
The Committee would like to see more specific emphasis placed on reducing the risk of poverty among children and young people, with actual targets being set.
We also recommend clearer statements on the integration of groups that are disproportionately at risk of poverty (e.g. single mothers, women, people from a migrant background, elderly people with low pension entitlements, the disabled).
A broad consultation should be launched on education as a tool for combating poverty and exclusion. Investment in education and innovative educational approaches are crucial to overcoming poverty.
Combating poverty
It must be stressed that social questions should not in any way be subordinated to questions of economic governance. Social protection is an important tool for social cohesion and solidarity and should always be at the heart of the European project. Social policy is a productive factor. Properly designed social and labour market policies are a positive force for both social justice and economic efficiency and productivity.
The Committee has been actively involved in the European Year 2010 for combating poverty and social exclusion. We also strongly support the "European Platform against Poverty" flagship initiative in the Europe 2020 strategy.
The Belgian Presidency has asked the Committee to prepare exploratory opinions on "The open method of coordination and the social clause in the context of Europe 2020" and "The development of social welfare benefits" respectively. Both opinions are scheduled for adoption later in July.
The Committee welcomes the Belgian Presidency's initiative to make use of the horizontal social clause (Article 9 TFEU) and a reinforced Open Method of Coordination (OMC), hereby highlighting the fact that social cohesion must keep pace with enhanced economic policy coordination in order to achieve all the targets contained in the Europe 2020 strategy. It is extremely important that employment, social protection and social inclusion are not sidelined in the current crisis.
Effective implementation of the horizontal social clause is very important. Social impact assessments should cover all ten integrated guidelines for employment and economic policies, be published and feed into the open method of coordination process, with a specific focus on the effects on employment, the number of people living in poverty and social risks.
In this context, real participation by organised civil society at all stages and levels is essential. The Committee underlines the pressing need for a coordination process that incorporates the interplay between all targets and all policies. This should in fact be the overarching guideline for implementing the social clause and the OMC. The Commission should spearhead this coordination, assisted by the Social Protection Committee and the Employment Committee. The Committee finds that the two committees should open themselves up to representation from outside stakeholders.
In the exploratory opinion on "The development of social welfare benefits", the Committee refers to a declaration adopted on 30 November 2009 to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Community Charter of Fundamental Social Rights. In this declaration the Commission is requested to propose a Social Action Programme which guarantees that fundamental social rights are treated on an equal footing with the rules governing competition and economic freedom.
We have stated on several occasions that neither economic freedoms nor competition rules should take precedence over fundamental social rights.
In this opinion, the Committee reiterates the belief that well-designed social and labour market policies strengthen both social justice and efficiency and economic performance. The European Social Model is based on strong coherence between economic efficiency and social progress. The role of social policy as an economic stabiliser should not be underestimated.