May 2009 Employment Summit falls short of expectations, says the Social Platform

Background information

To prepare the summit, the European Commission organised a series of workshops with the current and future EU Presidencies (held in Madrid on 15 April, in Stockholm on 20 April and in Prague on 27 April). In addition, a special debate was held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 May. This consultation process brought in views from the broadest possible range of stakeholders, including social partners at all levels, representatives from various EU institutions, Member States, public employment services, academics, and civil society.

The Employment Summit - May 2009

Ten actions were suggested:

 1. Keep as many people as possible in jobs, with temporary adjustment of working hours combined with retraining and supported by public funding (including from the European Social Fund);
 2. Encourage entrepreneurship and job creation, e.g. by lowering non-wage labour costs and flexicurity;
 3. Improve the efficiency of national employment services by providing intensive counselling, training and job search in the first weeks of unemployment, especially for the young unemployed.
 4. Increase significantly the number of high quality apprenticeships and traineeships by the end of 2009.
 5. Promote more inclusive labour markets by ensuring work incentives, effective active labour market policies and modernisation of social protection systems that also lead to a better integration of disadvantaged groups including the disabled, the low-skilled and migrants.
 6. Upgrade skills at all levels with lifelong learning, in particular giving all school leavers the necessary skills to find a job.
 7. Use labour mobility to match supply and demand of labour to best effect.
 8. Identify job opportunities and skills requirements, and improve skills forecasting to get the training offer right.
 9. Assist the unemployed and young people in starting their own business, e.g. by providing business support training and starting capital, or by lowering or eliminating taxation on start-ups.
 10. Anticipate and manage restructuring through mutual learning and exchange of good practice.

The Social Platform’s reaction

Reacting to the summit, the Social Platform stated that: "- We are disappointed and concerned by the conclusions of the Employment Summit. President Barroso spoke today of the social impact of the crisis and has affirmed that the economic and social agendas can’t be separated. And yet today this is precisely what happened. The social impact of the crisis was not mentioned in the Summit conclusions and they’re just ‘business as usual’: increase mobility, increase flexicurity and create a favourable environment for enterprises.
 What is striking is that the EU has already done all the thinking about how to get people back into the labour market through the Recommendation on active inclusion (adopted by the EPSCO Council in December 2008 and by the Parliament on 6 May 2009). The missing final step is its implementation – this was not even mentioned at the Employment Summit.
 The employment indicators and forecasts are shocking to read, but behind each statistic there are countless tragic stories of how the people of Europe are impacted by the economic crisis. Those who yesterday were most in need are today even more so. Yet today’s Summit focused on the newly unemployed. Does this mean EU leaders are forgetting the 79 million people that were already living in poverty before the crisis?
 The people of Europe deserve a real Social Summit, not a meeting with social partners only. Unfortunately the EU has not yet embarked on a debate with all actors involved and particularly civil society organisations. "

Next step

The Commission is currently preparing a Communication on these matters for the next Summit which will take place on 18-19 June. It is hoped that this Summit will see EU leaders take political decisions on the way forward. Sweden and Spain plan to continue cooperating with social partners to fight against unemployment.

EPHA comments

Unemployment is known to be detrimental to health over and above the effects of social status, poverty, risk factors and prior ill-health.

In its Communication, the Commission acknowledges that "Health is an important requirement for participation in the labour market. People suffering from chronic health impediments cannot successfully participate in lasting employment or in training in preparation for employment. This is especially true of people at risk of poverty, who suffer more than average from ill health and who have less access to medical care."

At a time when the Commission’s latest spring forecast predicts EU employment to average 9.4 % in 2009, rising to 10.9% in 2010, it is more than ever essential that national and European policy-makers fully implement the recommendation on active inclusion. Summits should build on discussions from previous fora and be the place for concrete actions to be adopted.

For further information

 Consolidated report from the preparatory workshops

 DG Employment’s / Commissioner Spidla’s website on the social impacts of the crisis

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