News

On January 31 the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) organised a conference about the future perspectives of the European labour market. The main objective was to analyse the effects of the financial crisis on the labour market in order to find some political alternatives to overcome the crisis that affect workers and households the least.

The first picture of the current situation of the European labour market was given by a representative of the Commission’s DG ECFIN. In his “prudent but optimistic perspective” the crisis generated a vicious circle affecting the relation between financial stability, sovereign debt and economic growth. It is his evaluation that Europe is overcoming the crisis, even if it strongly affected the labour markets. He sees the solution for more financial stability in the recapitalisation of banks and the support of economic growth. There was no place for social concerns in his speech.

DG ECFINS’s optimistic attitude was criticised by, Gustav Horn from the Hans Boeckler Stiftung making a comparative analysis between Greece, Germany and Netherlands to show the failure of austerity policies. At the same line, the ETUI, called for a change of paradigm as an urgent “shock therapy” to let Europe invest more in social policies.

During the second panel the speeches were not even as optimistic. The impact of the crisis on employment rates was assessed, focusing in particular on young people. The speakers did not see any light at the end of the tunnel for at least the next year. No reference was however made to other people in a vulnerable situation.

Unemployment and labour segmentation have been rising since the onset of the crisis and it is therefore necessary to reform the labour market, to invest in the apprenticeship system as a bottom-up approach for employment and to make the social protection system more efficient as it is has a great potential as social stabiliser.

The third panel addressed the issue of EU mobility as a consequence of the imbalance of wages between European countries, but also as a rebalancing element in the European labour market.

The conference was closed by a speech from Laszlo Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. He highlighted some key points to act upon to solve employment imbalances including:

•     all member states should implement Youth Guarantees
•     more needs to be done to employ or re-employ young mothers and other vulnerable groups
•     governments should promote social economy and social entrepreneurship, and mainstream business should learn from these alternative models
•     building modern welfare states focused on social investment: to improve equality of opportunity

This conference clarified that investing in social policies is one of the main instruments to restore workers’ economic power and to reactivate a positive social and economic circle.