EU issues Communication on ‘new skills for new jobs’

The European Commission has published a Communication on ‘New skills for new jobs: Anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs’. The measures form part of a package, contained in the European Economic Recovery Plan presented on 26 November 2008, to address the economic crisis as it affects Europe’s economies. Overall, the social partners have welcomed the plan, although both sides argue that further measures are needed.

A Communication from the European Commission entitled New skills for new jobs: Anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs, issued on 16 December 2008, represents the Commission’s assessment of the EU’s future skills and jobs requirements for the next decade. It aims to ensure a better match between skills and labour, while improving Member States’ capacity to assess and anticipate future skills needs.

Objectives of Commission strategy

The strategy has four main objectives, namely to:

• improve the monitoring of short-term trends in the European labour market;

• develop better information on medium and long-term skills needs;

• improve understanding of global challenges related to skills and jobs;

• mobilise existing Community policies to assist Member States in upgrading skills.

In a joint press statement on 15 December 2008, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír Špidla, and the Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, Ján Figel’, noted:

It makes no sense in these difficult economic times to see unemployment rising but job vacancies still not being filled. We must ensure a better match between the skills that workers have and the jobs that are available. And in the longer term, we must make efforts to better anticipate the skills the European economy will need, and reform our education and training systems so that they can properly prepare people for the jobs that will exist in 10 years’ time.

Economic recovery plan

The communication is a fundamental part of the European Economic Recovery Plan (128Kb PDF), presented on 26 November 2008. This plan addresses the employment impact of the current economic and financial crisis and aims to facilitate the re-entry of those out of the labour market. The economic recovery plan has two key pillars:

• a major injection of purchasing power into the economy to stimulate demand and boost confidence;

• short-term action to reinforce Europe’s competitiveness in the long term.

The plan argues for ‘smart’ investment that directs resources to investing in jobs centred on energy efficiency, fostering the low carbon markets of the future. Its fundamental principles are based on solidarity and social justice and it is geared towards helping those who are currently losing their jobs. The document argues that the current economic crisis makes it even more necessary that Europe’s citizens possess the skills they need to match labour market demands.

Promotion of job creation

The December communication is thus a direct outcome of the economic recovery plan. It notes that an anticipated 19.6 million additional jobs should be created by 2020 in the 25 EU Member States before the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, while a further 80 million jobs will become available through retirement or other exits from the labour market. However, a continuing shift from manufacturing to services will remain, in both high and low-skilled jobs, although the communication focuses particular attention on higher education skills.

The European Commission emphasises social partner involvement in the development of joint initiatives to promote skills forecasting and upgrading, and to accompany short-term restructuring. An expert group will support activities between the EU and other countries in developing a common understanding of the global challenges related to skills and jobs. In addition, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is expected to publish a complementary study, providing projections of skills supply to identify skill mismatches and shortages.

Social partner reaction

The social partner responses to both the recovery plan and to the communication have generally been positive, although both sides argue that further measures are needed. In a press release on 26 November 2008, the Deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Reiner Hoffman, called for an exceptional Tripartite Social Summit, warning that urgent action was required:

What matters now is the rapid and quick implementation of this recovery plan, in particular the €170 billion package that the Member States are supposed to provide. What also matters is social dialogue and social partners’ input to contribute to balanced policy packages avoiding social recession and downwards wage spirals.

In a press statement on 27 November 2008, the Confederation of European Business (BusinessEurope) welcomed the Commission’s recovery plan. However, it questioned whether it would be enough, arguing for ‘a clear commitment by Member States to deliver economic stimulus measures amounting to at least 1.2% of their national GDP in 2009’.

In its statement to the press (41Kb PDF) on 26 November 2008, the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Union Européenne de l’artisanat et des petites et moyennes enterprises, UEAPME) also welcomed the European Commission’s recovery plan as ‘a strong signal of its willingness to take decisive action against the deepening economic crisis’. Urging Member States to support the plan, UEAPME noted: ‘A rejection of this plan by Member States would darken Europe’s already bleak economic outlook.’

Sonia McKay, Working Lives Research Institute