"Policies" and the Four Pillars of the Luxembourg Guidelines for 1998

The Presidency Conclusions of the Extraordinary European Council Meeting on Employment held in Luxembourg on 20 and 21 November 1997 contain the employment policy "guidelines" for 1998. They encompass 19 separate policy areas and are grouped in four main lines of action ("pillars").

As in previous issues of "Policies", by way of introduction the reported measures from the various Member States will be briefly set in relation to these four pillars.

First, the new measures introduced will be classified. Once again, most of the measures presented in the contributions to this issue aim to improve employability (Pillar I). A wage-cost subsidy introduced in the Flanders Region of Belgium aims to improve the chances of people who have been unemployed for more than 36 months by enabling them to gain work and occupational experience, and in doing so facilitating their search for a job in the private sector. In the Walloon Region of Belgium, a system of vocational training cheques has been set up to promote vocational training. It is restricted to companies with up to 50 employees and covers some of the costs incurred by the company for the vocational training courses attended by its employees. In Italy, agreements have been reached between the social partners, within the framework of territorial pacts for areas in the Mezzogiorno, that aim to facilitate the placement of some groups of the unemployed and long-term unemployed or to provide them with training by permitting recruitment under more favourable conditions to employers than would normally apply under collective agreements. In the Netherlands, the coalition agreement of the new government reached in August 1998 envisages a reinforcement of measures to integrate the long-term unemployed and to improve their career chances. As part of the implementation of its National Action Plan for employment (NAP), the Austrian federal government has initiated a pilot programme called "NEW START" that provides for support for all institutions and enterprises offering permanent jobs in the service sector to unemployed persons pre-selected by the Labour Market Service (LMS). A similar aim is emphasised in the third Territorial Employment Act for the City of Vienna, which is supported jointly by the City, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, and the LMS. It has been endowed with financial resources totalling around ATS 750 million, with the help of which both labour market policy goals (i.e. job creation at regional and local levels) and structural policy goals (i.e. reinforcing the positive prospects for employment in the service sector) are to be realised in Vienna, where unemployment is above the Austrian average.

Only a few of the adopted measures reported on from the Member States in this edition aim to stimulate entrepreneurship (Pillar II). Particularly noteworthy in this context are political initiatives in Germany and Austria that aim to exploit to the full the scope for creating new jobs. Against the background of the fundamental structural changes associated with the deployment of modern information and communications technologies, Germany has started a so-called "Tele-work Initiative" in order to exploit the employment potential of this area to a greater extent than has been the case so far. In Austria, the measures mentioned under Pillar I ("NEW START" and "Territorial Employment Act for the City of Vienna") form part of initiatives which aim to promote and exploit the employment potential of an expanding service sector. In addition, proposed legislation in Italy to enable firms to emerge from the black economy is also, in a broad sense, to be seen in the light of this Pillar: it is expected that these changes will make a positive contribution to reducing unemployment.

Under Pillar III can be classified a draft agreement on reducing statutory weekly working hours to 35 hours in the French textile industry; it constitutes one example of branch agreements implementing the working-time reduction law ("Loi Aubry"; see inforMISEP "Policies" No. 63, p. 28). Sections of the new Greek legislation to "Regulate employment relations and establish a labour inspectorate" relating to specific forms of employment such as telework and domestic work and certain aspects of part-time work also serve to underpin the modernisation of work organisation. The proposed legislation in Italy to enable firms to emerge from the "black" economy should also be mentioned in this context.

To a greater extent than in previous issues, our correspondents report on numerous measures relating to the goal of promoting equal opportunities (Pillar IV). In Belgium, legislation is being proposed on the equal treatment of men and women within social security systems and at the workplace, a step that takes account of EU directives on the burden of proof in cases of sexual discrimination. Within the framework of the implementation of the Spanish National Action Plan for employment, which has set the realisation of the equality of opportunity for women as a specific goal, two new measures have so far been enacted with the aim of promoting both the integration of women into the labour market and stable employment relations for them in occupations and activities where they are under-represented. In Greece, regulations on parental leave contained in the above-mentioned law to "Regulate employment relations and establish a labour inspectorate" aim to make it easier for parents to reconcile family and career responsibilities. In the Netherlands, the coalition agreement signed in August 1998 contains proposals for improved child-care facilities.

The goal of promoting the integration of the disabled into working life set out in Pillar IV is taken up by new measures in the Netherlands and Austria. In the Dutch measure, the reintegration of occupationally disabled persons into working life is to be facilitated by means of a trial scheme for a personalised reintegration budget for unemployed partially and entirely occupationally disabled persons. In addition, an increase in the number of places in sheltered employment relations (WSW law) was announced in the coalition agreement of the new Dutch government. In Austria, special measures for the disabled have been extended within the framework of the NAP in the form of active labour market policy measures ("Working Foundation for the Vocational Training of the Disabled").

In this context, mention should also be made of the "Minimum integration income" introduced by a new decree-law in Italy; in a number of pilot projects at local level, measures are to be taken against poverty and social exclusion for people threatened with economic and social marginalisation. In addition, non-profit initiatives in Italy are to receive support if they take action to counter social exclusion.

A number of contributions describe recent trends in existing labour market and employment policy programmes. In the Netherlands, by 1 July 1998 more than 30,000 jobs (each of 32 hours per week) had been created and filled in local authorities and in the public care sector within the framework of the "Regulation on additional employment for the long-term unemployed" (EWLW). A report from Austria provides a summary of expenditure on labour market policy in 1996 and 1997, revealing a shift away from passive and towards active spending between these two years. Quantitative information is also provided on the five-year initiative for adult training (AIE) proposed by the Swedish government in the autumn of 1997, the aim of which is to enable those with only compulsory schooling to undergo training and education up to upper secondary level. Finally, readers are informed of the successes of measures to reduce youth unemployment under the United Kingdom's "New Deal".

In addition, some contributions describe proposed reforms that are relevant to employment and labour market policy. They include preparations for a reform of vocational training in France as well as the policy measures that aim to increase the number of people in paid employment incorporated into the coalition agreement of the new Dutch government; various elements of this have been described above in the context of the relevant pillar. Our Swedish correspondent reports on a proposal by a working group to upgrade the vocational skills of the labour force. In October 1998 the Swedish government also proposed a new overall employment target: the employment rate of the 20-64 age group is to rise from 74% in 1997 to 80% in 2004. This is in addition to the goal of halving the unemployment rate to 4% by the year 2000.

Other contributions portray more general trends that impact on employment and labour market policy. From Spain, for instance, we have a report on preliminary experiences with the agreement on job security signed by the social partners in April 1997, the aim of which was to make fixed-term employment relations less attractive and permanent employment relations more attractive.

A Dutch report deals with proposals for important organisational changes within the public employment service and in its cooperation with local authorities; the reforms are seen as an important pre-condition for the efficiency of labour market policy, and centre on proposals for a uniform national categorisation of jobseekers based on their perceived chances on the labour market.

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