Leila Kurki: Väestökehityksen haasteet työmarkkinoilla ja Eurooppa 2020 strategia

Leila Kurki puhui Euroopan talous- ja sosiaalikomitean, Bulgarian talous- ja sosiaalikomitean ja komission yhteiskonferenssissa Sofiassa 17.10.2011 aiheesta väestökehityksen haasteet työmarkkinoilla ja Eurooppa 2020 strategia (tervehdys ja johtopäätökset)

Leila Kurki
President of The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship
European Economic and Social Committee EESC

Joint Conference with the Bulgarian ESC, Commission representation in Bulgaria and European Economic and Social Committee 17 October 2011, Sofia

Demographic challenges and the labour market within the Europe 2020 Strategy

European Economic and Social Committee is very happy to co-organize this event with the Bulgarian Economic and Social Committee and the Commission representation in Bulgaria.

I would like to thank personally the Bulgarian ESC President, who is also a member of the EESC and the Section for Employment and Social Affairs, Mr Dulevski for having taken this initiative.

This is a very good example of cooperation between the European Committee and the national Committee’s. And an excellent example of our core activities we call “going local”, in order to create discussion in different member states on important topics in the EU.

We are particularly pleased for this opportunity for making two very important recent Committee opinions known to the Bulgarian civil society.

The opinion requested by the Polish presidency on The future of the labour market in Europe and demographic trends and the opinion on An agenda for new skills and jobs, which is also one of the seven Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives.

These two opinions will be presented and discussed by the respective rapporteurs later this morning.

I wish you all a very fruitful conference.

Summary of the discussion

This conference has showed us that the demographic change is certainly a huge challenge for European societies, but it is also an excellent opportunity for taking action.

Some important ideas on how to face this challenge have been discussed today. First of all: ageing in not a danger, but a challenge and opportunity for more sustainable economic and social development in our societies.

One of the key messages is the need to increase the labour market participation of all age groups and to integrate vulnerable groups, such as people with disabilities, more effectively onto the labour market.

As minister Mr Mladenov said, we need to give more active and committed role to ageing people, improve employment policy and social policies.

The opinion presented by Mr Greif demonstrates that if we manage to increase the employment rates, then the general threat to our ability to pay the future pensions can be kept at perfectly manageable levels.

What is important in this respect is much more the ratio of benefit recipients to working population (the economic dependency ratio) than relationship between the number of older people and the number of people of working age (the demographic ratio).

So we should focus on the full use of the potential of different groups and increase that potential that people can offer to labour markets. Immigration of labour is only one solution but we can’t overestimate it, it is only additional to good employment policies.

The European Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, as addressed by Ms Drbalová, contains important elements which can help to increase the employment rates. This flagship initiative is a precondition for the success of the other six initiatives.

In our opinion we conclude that Europe needs better functioning labour markets, more skilled workforce, better job quality and working conditions, and stronger policies to promote job creation and demand for labour.

I’d like to draw the attention particularly on the job quality aspect.

Let's not talk only about the formal retirement age. Let’s focus on the value and quality of the time we spend at work. And here I mean all different age groups, women, and vulnerable groups on the labour market.

In a truly inclusive labour market with high quality work, people will want to – and will be able to – stay active longer.

A key issue for future national and European competitiveness is how work will be organised and how people will be managed in the workplace. As it was mentioned in the discussion, older workers role as mentors for younger one, and new on the job training systems.

An organisation's innovation capacity depends on the motivation and commitment of its management and staff to regenerating their own work and the organisation.  This should include both the high skilled and the low skilled workforce.

The way out of crisis is not depending purely on the austerity measures, but more urgent are investments to the functioning of labour markets, new skills and innovative work organisations.

But, as Mrs Drabalova stated, The Europe 2020 flagship initiatives lacks a much needed sense of urgency. There is a need for a positive attitude for change and a pressure toward Member States to focus on actions.

The EESC is currently preparing an input to a broader EU discussion on management of economic and social crisis. The SOC (employment and social affairs) and ECO (economy and structural funds) sections we have a joint brainstorming meeting on 8th and 9th on November, and the outcome will be presented on the discussion with Commissioner Olli Rehn at the December plenary.

The awareness of the importance of policy for the ageing society is very high level in Bulgaria, and you are clearly actively seeking concrete answers to the present economic situation and to future challenges.

In the discussion it was mentioned for example renewing of the labour law, qualifications assessments, vocational training systems, reconciling family and work, pension fund.

The important role of the social and civil dialog is unquestionable, it is a tool to analyse and improve the economic growth, degrease social polarisation, and increase prosperity of the European nations.