Employment package outlines strategies for boosting jobs

Citation

(1999), "Employment package outlines strategies for boosting jobs", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323aab.004

Employment package outlines strategies for boosting jobs

Employment package outlines strategies for boosting jobs

Keywords Employment, Service industries, Strategy

EU countries could do more to create jobs in the service sector, according to Employment Guidelines for 1999, proposed recently by the European Commission. Increasing employment will depend on an expansion of jobs in services, it says, drawing on two reports also published recently.

Services account for only 39.2 per cent of employment in the EU but 54.2 per cent in the USA, notes the Employment Rates Report 1998. The 1999 Guidelines consolidate the approach developed in those for the current year, based on employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability and equal opportunities. The changes suggested include a review of benefit and tax systems to encourage people to seek and take up work or training, and setting targets to increase the number of people who benefit from lifelong learning. Special attention should also be given to the needs of the disabled, ethnic minorities and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market, and to programmes to promote family-friendly policies.

The UK has performed well on employment in relation to the EU average, the Commission says in the third paper, the Joint Employment Report for 1998. This assesses the progress made on the EU's employment strategy, particularly the National Action Plans of the Member States and the Employment Guidelines for 1998. All EU countries are making their strategies more systematic and consistent, it concludes. The report also highlights ten examples of good practice in employment policy, such as the New Deal for young people in the UK.