Mid-term Review of the Europe 2020 Strategy (original) (raw)

European labour markets challenges in the context of the “Europe 2020” srategy

The article studies the crisis’ effects on the development of the labour markets in Europe and in Bulgaria, in particular. It outlines the strong decrease in labour demand and high unemployment in a considerable part of the member-countries as well as the decrease in households’ income and the standard of living dynamics. The increasing pressure on public finances under crisis conditions encounters their restricted opportunities, additionally limited by the strict fiscal consideration carried out. The active labour market policies, carried out manage partially and temporary to compensate for the negative effects of the crisis. All this gives rise to challenges facing the European Strategy 2020 goals and calls for reviewing the managerial and financial mechanisms, triggering for its achievement.

Employment – European Strategic Objective

European Journal of Law and Public Administration, 2016

Employment provides a degree of independence and self-esteem, and helps each citizen to integrate into society. Thus, with increasing employment in Europe, the number of people who gain income will increase, we will find a greater social inclusion and less poverty. Achieving these objectives within the European Union depends on active and effective involvement of all Member States to participate in the realization of this strategy and to coordinate their policies in relation to it. A number of strategies are designed to assist Member States in coordination of employment policies. The Strategic Framework for Education and Training 2020, adjusted in each EU Member State, which proposes the implementation of lifelong learning and mobility, improving the quality and efficiency of education and training, promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship, enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship at all levels of education and training plays a major role in achieving the aspirations of each EU member state and therefore of the Union.

Deviation of employment in the EU member states from the target values of the Europe 2020 Strategy

Economic Annals-ХХI, 2016

The article is focused on the analysis of changes in the employment rates in the EU countries with regard to the target values of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The trend of employment has been considered via the analysis of variability and disaggregation by gender. Following the period of successful realisation of the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy the situation changed due to the impact of economic crisis and the employment rate began to decline. It is hard to expect that the forecasted value for employment rate will have been achieved in all of the EU member states by 2020. Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain are experiencing an economic downturn and have a difficult situation in their labour markets. The economic recovery of the abovementioned four countries is very slow, thus, it is not realistic to expect that they will reach the expected employment rates.

The European Employment Strategy: Towards More and Better Jobs? &ast

Jcms: Journal of Common Market Studies, 2007

The European Employment Strategy (EES) is the employment policy of the European Union. According to its 2000 orientations, the EES was to promote 'more and better jobs'. In fact, the EES has not lived up to this promise. First, the EES has not been able to put the quality of jobs firmly on its agenda. On the contrary, the EES argues in favour of more flexible jobs. Second, the EES criticizes countries such as Sweden and Denmark for their high levels of taxes and unemployment benefits, despite the results these countries achieve in terms of employment. The orientations of the EES can be understood as deriving from mainstream economics; it is argued that they go against the European social model. * I thank an anonymous referee for his very helpful comments. Thanks also to Rajeev Ruparell for his careful proofreading of the article.

European Employment Strategy : : An Instrument of Convergence for the New Member States?

Over the past ten years, employment has remained the number one concern of Europeans, also in the new EU member states. According to the latest Eurobarometer opinion polls, EU citizens have more confidence in the European Union than in their own governments to improve the employment situation in their country. European leaders do not seem to have grasped the full extent of this challenge, whether during the accession period of the new member states or since 2004, according to the analysis presented here by Catherine Palpant. She notes that the major tool in this area, the European Employment Strategy, which aim since 1997 has been to boost the labour markets in and coordinate the national employment policies of the former 15 member states, has not yet delivered convincing results for the 10 new member states. She tries to establish why it has failed by reviewing the socio-economic characteristics of these countries, recent trends, the social policies implemented during the transition period, and the contents of the national action plans for employment. Through an in-depth examination of five member states, she demonstrates how the European Employment Strategy, now fully incorporated into the integrated approach for Growth and Jobs of the revised Lisbon Strategy, has the potential to be an effective instrument of convergence for the EU 25 in terms of employment policy, working conditions and labour markets. By following her advice, rather than grumble about the distance that separates old and new member states from the European social model, we should try to explain better to the new member states what the EES is about, by fostering a real partnership, by encouraging them to experiment with new policy instruments, and by defining common objectives better adapted to their national priorities.

Education, Employment and Poverty in the Context of the Europe 2020 Strategy

The paper deals with the idea that a new human resources approach is necessary in order to implement Europe 2020 Strategy. As a result, the correlation between education, labor and poverty becomes very important. The analysis in the paper follows three steps: a comparative analysis between the Member States during 2000-2012, a short term forecast and a forecast during 2014-2020. This analysis uses four indicators: employment rate, early leavers from education and training, tertiary educational attainment and people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Moreover, the paper realizes a pertinent database, using the last official statistic data. All steps of the analysis and all its conclusions are supported by pertinent statistic tables and diagrams. The main conclusions of the paper are focused on the idea that only the Europe 2020 Strategy is not enough and efficient to solve the future socioeconomic challenges of the EU. Moreover, the socioeconomic disparities connected to human resources between the Member States will increase. This is why the Member States can be grouped into three clusters, which are available until the end of the forecast period (2020). These three clusters can lead to an EU with three development speeds, which is not sustainable for the Member States. Keywords: employment rate, early leavers from education and training, tertiary educational attainment, people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, socioeconomic disparities.

Assessing the European Employment Strategy: some preliminary considerations

… Workshop on Alternative Economic Policy in …, 2001

Assessing the European Employment Strategy (EES) in 2001, four years after the Luxembourg summit, entails understanding the possible causal chain of actions which it has been able to trigger. The strategy's possible outcomes are both structurally constrained by ...

07 The Employment Policy in European Union

International Journal of Social and Educational Innovation, 2014

An important component of the approach that we have initiated is the study on employment and labor relations in the European Union through the chapter " Employment Policy in the European Union". The crystallization of the European efforts in the field of employment was due to social policy crisis that has manifested especially in the mid- '90s, when unemployment reached over 10 % in the European Union, with a significant impact on social policy. The modernization of the economies and the manufacturing technology has led to the emergence of surplus labor which has necessitated the development of new strategies to boost employment in the EU, the involvement of local authorities in the creation of new jobs, but simultaneously with the establishment of a financing instrument for this process: the European Social Fund, the issues presented throughout this paper.

The European Employment policy: from ends to means

To be published in Salais R., Villeneuve R., eds, 2002, Europe and the politics of capabilities, forthcoming THIS IS NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL VERSION COMMENTS WELCOME The European Employment policy: from ends to means?