Belgium: With the aim of promoting vocational training, the Belgian government has introduced vocational training cheques for companies with a production location in the Walloon Region and with a workforce of no more than 50 employees. The cheques provide for partial reimbursement of the cost of vocational training courses attended by employees, managers or active partners. - On the basis of a decree issued in September 1998, the Flemish government has now passed legislation for a plan under which private-sector employers recruiting difficult-to-place unemployed persons under a permanent contract or a fixed-term contract of at least one year are entitled to a work-experience grant. - In July 1998, a bill was passed on the equal treatment of women and men in working life in preparation for an independent law which will include provisions for sexual equality in systems of occupational classification and increased scope for monitoring and sanctioning discrimination.
Germany: The labour and economy ministries have jointly developed a "Telework Initiative" with the aim of exploiting the employment-creating potential of telework. Obstacles to the diffusion of this new form of work are to be identified and removed, and information offered to those potentially affected in order to promote acceptance.
Greece: A new law on employment relations and the establishment of a labour inspectorate contains provisions on such questions as special employment forms, part-time employment, working time, local employment agreements, parental leave and the tasks to be performed by the labour inspectorate.
Spain: Studies have shown that, since the labour market reform implemented in 1997, an increasing number of employees have received a permanent employment contract, although the number of workers employed under fixed-term contracts remains high, despite a slight decline. - The National Action Plan (NAP) for employment has accorded top priority to those measures aiming to raise female employment rates and counter discrimination against women in terms of pay, recruitment and access to executive positions.
France: Six ANPE staff members spent six months gaining work experience in a German employment office within the framework of a staff exchange scheme agreed between the German and French public employment services. This work experience is now being analysed with a view to examining which German practices could be applied in French employment offices. - In October 1998, the employers' federation in the textile industry presented a draft branch-level agreement to the social partners in implementation of the law on the reduction in statutory working hours to 35 hours a week; it applies as of 2000 or 2002. The agreement defines the overtime quotas and regulates pay questions and the working time of managerial staff. - A reform of the vocational training system is currently being prepared by the Minister for Employment and Solidarity.
Italy: Legal proposals are currently being drawn up at the behest of the labour ministry as a basis for employment promotion measures with which, among other things, firms are to be enabled to emerge from the black economy; a public body is to be set up to supervise and observe firms on the path to legality. - Recently, an agreement was signed between the leading trade union organisations and an employers' federation (Assindustria)- under a framework agreement reached in 1998 - the aim of which is to promote the reintegration of workers made redundant and the recruitment of the long-term unemployed. - A decree-law published in August 1998 lists local authorities that have been declared crisis areas on the basis of precisely defined conditions. - In the future, non-profit organisations wishing to implement pilot projects, developed jointly with local government, in order to counter social exclusion and develop support services for marginalised groups and those in difficult social situations, will be entitled to financial support from the Fund for Non-profit Initiatives. - Under a two-year pilot project entitled "Minimum Integration Income", individuals and families threatened with social exclusion are entitled to supplementary income and may participate in individual programmes to promote their social integration. - The Ministry of Industry Trade and Craft has issued precise definitions of the criteria and procedures applying for the provision of capital grants and tax concessions provided within the framework of the law to support entrepreneurial activity by women.
Netherlands: The coalition agreement of the new centre-left government sets the creation of paid employment by means of a special employment policy enjoying additional funding as one of the most important goals for the coming four years. - Following a reform of support programmes and their administration, in the spring of 1998 parliament approved the "Reintegration Law" (REA Law), which stimulates the individual responsibility of beneficiaries and offers a comprehensive plan to solve the problems currently experienced by those seeking to return to working life. - Alongside the cooperation units ("Centres for Employment and Income") being set up throughout the country in cooperation between the local authorities, the public employment service and the social insurance agencies, a new uniform system is to be created to categorise registered jobseekers, in order to be able to evaluate as precisely as possible the labour market chances of each jobseeker. - According to information provided by the Minister for Social Affairs and Employment, by 1 July 1998 more than 30,000 jobs had been created in local authorities and the care sector within the framework of the "Regulation on additional employment for the long-term unemployed" (EWLW).
Austria: With the aim of exploiting the new employment potential in the services sector, the labour minister has announced the implementation of a pilot programme entitled "New Start", for which ATS 150 million has been earmarked, within the framework of the National Action Plan for employment. - In view of rising unemployment among disabled persons, an additional labour market policy measure specifically tailored to the vocational training and integration of this target group has been developed within the context of the National Action Plan for employment. - Also within the framework of the NAP, a territorial employment pact has been put forward for the city of Vienna, under which both labour market and structural policy measures are to be implemented. - In an effort to convert passive labour market policies into more active measures, discussions are currently under way on permitting recipients of unemployment benefits and emergency support to retain their benefit entitlement during all training measures approved by the public employment service.
Portugal: Within the framework of an international meeting held in Lisbon in September 1998, the creation of jobs in disadvantaged urban and rural areas was analysed. - During a seminar on underemployment held on the Azores in September 1998, questions relating to its definition and the development of a reliable statistical coverage system were discussed.
Finland: The government has presented proposals for a law to protect privacy in working life. Provisions relate to the data on employees collated and stored by employers and on genetic testing during recruitment and the employment relation.
Sweden: At the request of the government, the public employment service has conducted a study into the displacement effects of labour market policy measures, the results of which have recently been published. - The results of a recently published study show which channels employers use to select candidates suitable for jobs in both occupational and personal terms and also reveal employer attitudes to recruiting persons from disadvantaged target groups. - A working policy set up by the government has recommended the conclusion of a tripartite agreement that is to promote qualitative and quantitative improvements in job-related skills. - In its most recent budget proposal (October 1998), the government has proposed a new general employment policy target: the employment rate of the working-age population is to be increased to 80% by the year 2004. - An initiative to raise the educational level of the working population, proposed by the government in the autumn of 1997 and targeted primarily at the unemployed, has been shown to be successful. The measure is to run for five years, offering around 600,000 people the opportunity to raise their educational level to the equivalent of an upper secondary qualification.
United Kingdom: Data on the New Deal for Youth presented in September 1998 show that more than 23,000 young people have found employment, more than two thirds of them in unsubsidised jobs. - In six pilot areas, a personal advisory service was established in September 1998 for disabled recipients of occupational disability allowances. If it is successful, the programme will be introduced at national level from the year 2000.
EU – European Commission DG EMPL/A/2 J
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