7 Europe 2020 — An Agenda for new
skills and jobs
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17066/1/10 REV1
COM(10) 682
| Commission Communication: An Agenda for new skills and jobs: A European contribution towards full employment
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| Legal base | —
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| Document originated | 26 November 2010
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| Deposited in Parliament | 29 November 2010
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| Department | Business, Innovation and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 16 December 2010
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | December
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
7.1 Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) sets out the
objectives of Union action which include "the sustainable
development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price
stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming
at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection
and improvement of the environment." Article 9 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) further requires
the Union, in all its policies and actions, to "take into
account requirements linked to the promotion of a high level of
employment, the guarantee of adequate social protection, the fight
against social exclusion, and a high level of education, training
and protection of human health."
7.2 The EU's Europe 2020 Strategy for Jobs and Growth
is intended to help EU Member States to recover from the economic
and financial crisis by stimulating "competitiveness, productivity,
growth potential, social cohesion and economic convergence."[39]
In June 2010, the European Council agreed five "headline
targets" which the Strategy should help to achieve. The headline
target for employment seeks to raise the employment rate of women
and men aged between 20 and 64 to 75% by 2020 and emphasises the
need for greater labour market opportunities for young people,
older workers, low-skilled workers and migrants.
The Commission Communication
7.3 The Commission's Communication, An Agenda
for New Skills and Jobs, is one of seven "flagship initiatives"
proposed to implement the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Commission
says that "in times of budgetary constraints and unprecedented
global competitive pressures, EU employment and skills policies
that help shape the transition to a green, smart and innovative
economy must be a matter of priority."[40]
The Commission therefore proposes to focus on four priory objectives:
- Better functioning labour
markets, based on the
Common Principles of Flexicurity agreed by the Council in 2007
which contemplate a combination of flexible and reliable contractual
arrangements, comprehensive lifelong learning strategies, effective
active labour market policies, and modern, adequate and sustainable
social protection systems;[41]
- Better matching of skills to labour market
needs, including through greater investment
in education, training and lifelong learning, improved systems
for anticipating skills needs and a strong emphasis on promoting
geographical mobility;
- Better job quality and working conditions,
based on a "smarter legal framework" which keeps pace
with new working patterns and technologies and helps rather than
hinders workplace adaptation; and
- Supporting job creation,
including through the removal of obstacles to setting up businesses
and hiring staff, a reduction in non-wage labour costs and the
promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment.
7.4 The Commission says that Member States bear the
main responsibility for achieving these objectives, using appropriate
policies and tools developed at national level. The purpose of
the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs is to identify 13 "key
actions", and a range of accompanying measures, which the
Commission proposes to undertake as part of the EU's contribution
to implementing the Europe 2020 Strategy. The key actions and
accompanying measures proposed for each priority objective are
summarised below.
BETTER FUNCTIONING LABOUR MARKETS AND FLEXICURITY
7.5 The Commission says that flexicurity policies
developed at national level, such as short-time working arrangements,
incentives for business start-ups or new training and work experience
programmes, have helped Member States to weather the economic
crisis and mitigate the fall in the growth of employment in 2008-09
but more needs to be done to strengthen labour market reform.
The Commission proposes three key actions:
- organising a Stakeholder Conference
on Flexicurity in 2011 involving Member States, the European Parliament,
the Commission and social partners to consider ways of strengthening
the EU's Common Principles of Flexicurity to encourage cost-effective
reforms, followed by a Commission Communication in 2012 to give
new momentum to the flexicurity concept;
- a Commission Communication
on the implementation of lifelong learning strategies and competence
development in 2012, as well as a European Policy Handbook establishing
a framework for lifelong learning and a renewed Action Plan for
Adult Learning; and
- organising a Tripartite Social Forum in 2011
to discuss the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs and flexicurity
policies ahead of the Tripartite Social Summit[42]
which precedes the Spring European Council.
7.6 The Commission contemplates three further accompanying
measures:
- the introduction in 2011 of
a comprehensive methodology to monitor Member States' progress
in implementing flexicurity principles;
- the establishment, by the end of 2011, of a partnership
between employment services to develop an EU-level strategic dialogue
on labour market transitions (providing security to enable workers
to move between jobs or to help them out of education, training
or unemployment into work); and
- consultation with social partners on the creation
of a European framework for the advance planning and implementation
of industrial restructuring.
BETTER MATCHING OF SKILLS TO LABOUR MARKET NEEDS
7.7 The Commission says that the economic crisis
has accelerated the pace of industrial restructuring and exposed
important skills gaps, especially in areas with persistently high
levels of unemployment. The intra-EU labour mobility of EU citizens
remains low and skilled non-EU migrants tend to occupy low-skilled
jobs. The Commission proposes five key actions:
- the production, by 2012, of
an on-line EU Skills Panorama providing information on labour
market needs, skills shortages, areas of employment growth across
the EU as well as projections on future trends;
- the completion in all languages, by 2012, of
the European Skills, Competences and Occupations classification
(ESCO), a labour market tool for employers and job seekers which
describes the main skills and qualifications needed for a wide
range of jobs;
- evaluation of the Professional Qualifications
Directive with a view to proposing changes in 2012 to ease procedures
for the recognition of qualifications;
- the launch, in 2011, of a New Agenda for Integration
to remove barriers to the economic and social integration of third
country nationals legally resident in the EU; and
- possible measures in 2012 to enable EU migrant
workers to enforce their free movement rights more easily.
7.8 The Commission proposes twelve accompanying measures
to be undertaken in 2011 and 2012:
- help young people to make the
transition from school to work by establishing a new benchmark
on "education for employability", proposing a Council
recommendation on ways of reducing early school leaving, and setting
up a High Level Group to improve literacy;
- launch a campaign to raise awareness about EU
social security coordination rules to encourage mobility within
the EU;
- use the SME Performance Review to consider the
future skills needs of micro and craft enterprises;
- promote skills and competences needed to ensure
the sustainable development of the EU, in line with the Roadmap
towards a resource-efficient Europe and the Eco-Innovation Action
Plan;
- support the creation of "knowledge alliances"
which bring together the business and education sectors and help
to develop new curricula to address skills gaps and match labour
market needs;
- propose a Council Recommendation on how to record
and validate competences gained outside formal education and training
and establish a European Skills Passport;
- produce an analysis of how migration policies
can contribute to meeting skills gaps and develop a policy network
to consider ways of improving the educational attainment of migrant
students;
- reform the European Employment Services (EURES)
to improve its capacity to match skills and jobs;
- propose an EU-wide approach to the inclusion
of ICT skills and digital literacy in Member States' lifelong
learning policies;
- present a Communication on multilingualism to
encourage language learning;
- develop an action plan to address the shortfall
in the supply of health workers; and
- promote the development of European centres of
excellence specialising in the skills needed for future jobs.
BETTER JOB QUALITY AND WORKING CONDITIONS
7.9 The Commission says that the economic crisis
has exacerbated the risk of a deterioration in working conditions
but adds that "the working environment plays a crucial role
in enhancing the potential of the workforce and is a leading competitiveness
factor." The key actions proposed by the Commission seek
to preserve the existing EU acquis on working conditions,
health and safety at work, the rights of workers to information,
consultation and participation, and non-discrimination in the
workplace while also recognising the need to ensure that EU laws
are easy to understand and apply for businesses and workers. The
Commission proposes:
- a review of the Working Time
and Posted Workers Directives;
- a new EU Strategy on Health and Safety for 2013-20;
- a review of the effectiveness of EU legislation
on information and consultation of workers, as well as a review
of the impact on women's pay and participation in the labour market
of Directives on part-time work and fixed-term contracts; and
- a comprehensive review of EU health and safety
legislation.
7.10 The Commission proposes three further accompanying
measures:
- an initiative to strengthen
cooperation between labour inspectorates to crack down on undeclared
work;
- a review of the policy concept of "quality
work"; and
- an examination of the impact of two EU Directives
seeking to prohibit discrimination within the workplace.
SUPPORTING JOB CREATION
7.11 The Commission says that recovery from the economic
crisis must be based on job creation and proposes one key action:
- the development of guiding
principles on how to foster the conditions for job creation, including
the removal of obstacles to setting up a business, the reduction
of non-wage labour costs, and incentives to encourage individuals
to take up regular employment rather than undeclared work.
7.12 Accompanying measures proposed by the Commission
contemplate the establishment of a permanent Erasmus programme
for Young Entrepreneurs and the production of a policy handbook
on "entrepreneurship education" to help teachers encourage
entrepreneurship in schools.
7.13 The Commission recognises that, "in light
of the current fiscal constraints on national budgets, Member
States and the Commission must focus on making better use of EU
funds."[43] The
Commission suggest that more could be done to use existing EU
financial instruments — the European Social Fund, European
Regional Development Fund, Rural Development Fund and the Lifelong
Learning Programme — to support reforms in the field of
employment, education and training. The Commission also refers
to ideas set out in its consultation document on the future of
EU cohesion policy which include a much closer alignment between
EU finding instruments and the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy
and the introduction of greater economic conditionality which
would make the disbursement of cohesion funding conditional on
implementing certain reform measures identified in a development
and partnership contract with each Member State.[44]
7.14 The Commission says that the Agenda for New
Skills and Jobs is one of a number of initiatives which form part
of an integrated approach to implement the Europe 2020 Strategy
and which involve a mixture of policy instruments, including legislation,
policy coordination, social dialogue, funding and strategic partnerships.[45]
It will review the four priorities identified in the Agenda in
2014, after the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework has
been agreed.
The Government's view
7.15 The Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer
and Postal Affairs (Mr Edward Davey) notes that the Commission
Communication does not contain any specific legislative proposals
but sets out a work programme to help achieve the 75% employment
rate target agreed by the European Council when approving the
Europe 2020 Strategy. He says that the Government is content with
the four strategic priorities identified in the Communication
and considers that they can help "to ensure that EU employment
and skills policies help shape the transition to a green, smart
and innovative economy."[46]
7.16 The Minister expresses the Government's support
in principle for non-legislative initiatives "where these
can help Member States to develop their own policy solutions consistent
with their national circumstances, structures and traditions."
He adds,
"Where plans could lead to legislative proposals,
the Government will look closely at any proposals to ensure, not
only that the EU acts only where it has competence, but also that
it is clear Member States cannot do better acting on their own,
consistent with the principles of subsidiarity, and that any actions
are proportionate and do not result in the imposition of new costs
on Member States or regulatory burdens on businesses. For example
proposals to amend the Working Time Directive would cause concern
were they to threaten retention of the opt-out allowing individuals
who choose to work longer that the 48 hour working week. And measures
concerning the implementation of the Posted Workers Directive
could also lead to concerns were they to undermine Member State
rights over their own employment law and structures."[47]
7.17 The Minister welcomes the emphasis placed on
developing "a smarter EU legal framework for employment and
health and safety at work" (including greater use of 'soft'
(non-legislative) instruments) and supports any simplification
or reduction of administrative burdens resulting from the Commission's
proposed review of the EU's employment and health and safety acquis.
7.18 The Minister endorses the need to realise maximum
value from EU funds and says that the Government is keen to explore
the potential for integrating cohesion policy instruments (such
as the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development
Fund) with other EU funding instruments so as to streamline investment.
However, he expresses the Government's
"principled objection to proposals for contractually
binding 'conditionality' to be applied to funding. There should
be no punitive link between Member States' entitlement to Structural
and Cohesion Funds and the effectiveness of Member States' institutions
and macroeconomic policies, which should be addressed through
other established channels and which, in any case, would be challenging
for others to measure."[48]
The Minister adds that any proposals resulting from
the Communication must not pre-empt negotiations on the EU's next
financial perspective for the period 2014-20.
Conclusion
7.19 The Agenda for New Skills and Jobs outlined
in the Commission Communication is one of seven flagship initiatives
which, together, are intended to implement the objectives and
achieve the headline targets set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy.
As such, it is clearly an important document which we are therefore
drawing to the attention of the House.
7.20 The focus on flexible labour markets which
preserve the fundamentals of the EU's social market economy while
creating new, high quality jobs is likely to command the support
of all Member States, but the mix of policies and instruments
to achieve these goals may prove to be considerably more contentious.
The breadth and generality of the Communication make it difficult
to foresee at this stage whether the key actions and accompanying
measures proposed by the Commission are justified in terms of
the EU's competence to act in a particular area (for example,
education or social security entitlements) and in terms of their
added value and respect for the principle of susbidiarity. We
are therefore clearing the document from scrutiny but will consider
carefully measures to implement the Agenda for New Skills and
Jobs as and when each of them is put forward.
39 See the European Council's Conclusions of 17 June
2010. Back
40
See paragraph 2, page 2 of the Commission Communication. Back
41
See Council Conclusions of 5/6 December 2007, Council document
16201/07. Back
42
The Tripartite Social Summit is a form of institutionalised dialogue
involving the social partners, the Council Presidency and Commission. Back
43
See page 19 of the Commission's Communication. Back
44
See HC 428-xii (2010-11), chapter 6 (15 December 2010). Back
45
Other initiatives include Youth on the Move and the Strategy for
Equality between Women and Men 2010-15 (see HC 428-iv (2010-11),
chapters 8 and 15 (20 October 2010). Back
46
See paragraph 2 of the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. Back
47
See paragraph 25 of the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. Back
48
See paragraph 27 of the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. Back
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