EMP/ANALYSIS 2005 Labour Market Reform in the European Union, THE CICERO FOUNDATION Paris February 2006 Comparing employment strategies: EES,GEA, JS Peter Auer Chief, Employment Analysis and Research Employment Strategy Department ILO, Geneva

Global and regional employment strategies 1997 EES 2003 GEA Jobs Strategy 1994 OECD

The EES, GEA and the OECD Jobs strategy compared The achilles heel of strategies: follow-up, monitoring and feed-back. The EES as a model case? Strategies and Labour law Conclusion and policy recommendations Discussion points

Common goals: entrepreneurship, skills and training, active labour market policies From 2005 Integrated Guidelines (IG): EES and BEPO (for employment 3 general and 8 specific) Chapter micro reformes of IG: improve business environment and enhance entrepreneurial spirit (PME) Increase human capital by investing in education and training(3) Increase employment and modernise social protection(1): life cycle approach, inclusive labour market (also for target groups), better adjustment between supply and demand in LM ILO/GEA 10 core elements Promoting decent employment through entrepreneurship (5) Better employability by improving knowledge and skills (6) Active labour market policies for employment, security in change, equity, and poverty reduction (7) OECD Jobs study 10 core recommend ations Eliminate impediments to the creation and expansion of enterprises (4) Improve labour force skills and competences through wide-ranging reforms in education and training systems (8) Strengthen the emphasis on active labour market policies and reinforce their effectiveness (7)

Some divergence: Flexibility, New Technology, Macroeconomic policy Promote adaptability of workers and firms and labour market flexibility(2) : Flexibility combined with Security; Labour costs should support employment creation IG microeconomic reforms but also Lisbon strategy in general: investment in R§D,ICT,transfers and diffusion of technology IG/BEPO: Macroeconomic policy for growth and employment Flexibility/Security (in core element Active Labour Market Policies) (7) Promoting technological change for higher productivity and job creation, and improved standards of living (2) Macroeconomic policy for growth and employment:: a call for policy integration (4) OCDE Increase voluntary sought (by workers and employers) working time flexibility (3) Make wages and labour costs flexible in regards to local conditions and individual skill levels (in particular for young workers) (5) Reform employment security provisions that inhibit the expansion of employment in the private sector (6) Improving frameworks for the creation and diffusion of technological know-how (2) Non-inflationary and sustainable growth oriented macroeconomic policy in accordance with structural policies (1)

Towards an integrated economic policy/employment approach: from specific guidelines towards broader goals. However, goals of EES still valid. Less specific. Stronger emphasis on growth-job link. General strategy linked to sustainable development, poverty reduction through acces to employment and decent work Includes mainstreamed objectives : social dialogue and gender equality Stresses also importance of labour demand OCDE Based on supply side of the labour market, aims at deregulation of labour and product markets at present revised with more equilibrated approach (e.g. Flexibility/security), more balanced view on macroeconomic policy and accepting more national diversity (not one size fits all) Less emphasis on SPs

Similarities and differences: ALMP SimilaritiesDifferences Important policy tool for all strategies Especially for target groups Shared view on « activation » ALMP one element of flexi-curity Shared view on necessity to improve effectiveness Different emphasis on supply and demand side LMP measures Narrow vs. Broader concept of evaluation GEA, EES more emphasis on social dialogue GEA: Broader view on LMP and LM institutions as one instrument to cope with negative effects of globalization EES/(GEA): life cycle, transitions

Differences in implementation and follow-up OCDE Implementation by countries, through the open method of coordination (OMC)/benchmarking, NAP (NRP), JR, Recommendations; peer reviews, new 3 year programming cycles Implementation and follow up « in construction »; through governing body reporting, some first country cases, part of decent work programming Ad hoc implementation by countries, revision pending

Particularity of the EES Goals Process Convergence through benchmarking/comparison New 3 years IG cycle: integration of economic and employment objectives will in future also integrate structural funds.Before (and still valid) annual cycles of reporting on EES guidelines through NAPs (now NRP), JERs, Recommendations. IndicatorsGoals for 2010 Total employment 70% Female employment 60% Employment > 55 years 50%

Targets: employment rates, older workers Example of a goal: Employmen rate for older workers 42,5 in 2004, EU25 41,0 Best: SE (69,1), Worst: POL (26,2) Target will (most probably) not be reached !

Employment strategies : do (better) than thy neighbour? The strategies presented are supranational. Therefore they are not, even in the case of the European Employment Strategy(EES),laws. They might inspire national laws, their prescriptions can be guiding but even the EES has no sanction potential other than peer pressure, the pressure of other EU countries. An interesting soft law is the method of open coordination which aims at convergence by comparison: but adherance is voluntary. Principles are: subsidiarity, convergence, MbO, multilateral surveillance, integrated approach Convergence by comparison, without being coercive, could be a quite powerful means of achieving overall employment results. However, the different situation in each unit of comparison (country, region, local unit) has to be taken into account.

Conclusion and recommendations some conditions to advance national employment strategies and laws: Important to avoid status of pure declaration, which is the nature of general strategies Development of local and national objectives which are in coherence with problems and means available (funds, institutions and instruments) Implementation through effective labour market institutions (e.g. public employment services) and policies Good key labour market statistics which permit monitoring of objectives and (e.g. interregional) convergence through benchmarking in annual or pluriannual cycles Periodic evaluation Need for building/reinforcing actors and institutions of the social dialogue Importance of macroeconomic policies and policy integration for more labour demand