---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 29 Mar 1998 15:16:04 +0100 GMT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Social economy good for jobs - Flynn Social economy good for jobs - Flynn European employment Commissioner Padraig Flynn, speaking in Budapest on 27th March 1998 on "Modernising Europe's labour markets" clearly sees the social economy as a tool for promoting entrepreneurialism and creating jobs. And he hints at Commission encouragement for start-up aid and tax reform Extracts from the speech follow. _____ In order to maintain economic progress across the continent of Europe we must modernise and renew the systems through which we pursue our social policy goals. The new technologies and new patterns of production offer huge jobs potential. But, to realise this potential, we must manage transition and integration well, in the Union and in the applicant countries. We need a dynamic approach to employment policy which involves raising productivity and increasing workforce flexibility. That means replacing old systems with structures which better fit new patterns of work and changed social conditions. The technology-led workplace and skills revolution, which is conditioning our economic activity, makes this essential to economic success. And time is not on our side; the pace of change shows no sign of slackening. The new Employment Title has given new substance to the European employment strategy. And integration of the existing Social Partners' provisions into the new Treaty will enable them to better discharge their responsibilities as agents of economic and social modernisation. The strategy the Union has now adopted is designed to tackle two fundamental problems which lie behind our high unemployment and low employment rates. The first has been our inability, as a Union, to handle macro-economic shocks. The second has been our inability to handle the structural changes reshaping our labour markets. The Union's response to our macro-economic problems is EMU; it will strengthen convergence and coordination in economic policies. This will help us to ride out and manage shocks, as the US has been able to do. It will enable companies to plan and to price goods and services on the basis of exchange rate stability, rather than fluctuations. It should also help smaller companies take a stronger share of the Single Market. Its discipline has already improved stability and macro-economic conditions for growth and for confidence to invest. The response to the second problem is the European Employment strategy, and the measures agreed at the Jobs Summit. The aim is to help us to make the restructuring of our labour markets more of an ongoing process, to enable us to translate our strong macro-economic conditions, much more readily, into jobs. That requires cooperation, not conflict; dialogue, not deregulation.... The Jobs Summit put in place a convergence process, based on quantified, comparable targets. And it agreed guidelines for Member States' employment policies for 1998, which are designed to bridge four barriers to achieving our employment objectives. Firstly, the jobs gap. The first priority is, therefore, entrepreneurship, to stimulate more and better jobs, by promoting a stronger business and entrepreneurial environment and supporting job creation, including in the social economy. Secondly, there is the skills gap. Our second priority is, therefore, to promote employability, so that jobseekers can benefit from the new employment opportunities that are being created. Then there is the partnership gap, a lack of partnership in handling restructuring. Our third priority is to encourage adaptability, to develop new approaches to restructuring, and to equip enterprises and their workforces to take on board new technologies and market conditions. Finally, there remains the gender gap. Our fourth priority is a commitment to equal opportunities, so men and women can work on equal terms, with equal responsibilities in order to develop the full growth capacity of our economies. ... We need stronger efforts by Member States to create a new entrepreneurial culture, by improving the climate for entrepreneurship. This includes policy support for starting up enterprises; avoiding unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles, especially for SMEs; and measures to promote sustainable self-employment. It includes initiatives to exploit new sources of jobs. It also means making taxation systems more employment friendly by reducing the tax burden on labour. Source: EU press release 27/03/98
