EUROPA - Rapid: Opening remarks by Vladimir Špidla at the “Restructuring” Forum in Brussels - Highly skilled jobs increased by 20% to 24% of jobs

EUROPA Rapid

Excerpts of opening remarks by Vladimir Špidla Member of the European Commission responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities at the “Restructuring” Forum

"We can see that, every year, ten percent (10%) of European businesses are set up or wound up. Fifteen percent (15%) of jobs are lost, and fifteen point five percent (15.5%) are created.
Every day, in every Member State, five (5 000) to fifteen thousand (15 000) jobs are created or shed. But the concrete net result of this constant adaptation to change can be seen from one single figure: between 1977 and 2002, Europe created thirty million jobs.

But today, Europe is really feeling the effects of two major changes:

- globalisation of trade which is moving forward at a pace not seen for a hundred years;

- technological change which is bringing about what, since the Lisbon Summit, we have been calling the “knowledge-based economy”.

Europe is capable of mastering these changes and to take advantage of them. In this context, I would like to recall that the “web” is a European invention. What we are seeing today is the acceleration of two main types of restructuring which call for political responses at different levels.

Europe is seeing the emergence of “fabless”, or factoryless, companies. The so-called “value production chain” is following a new model: localised production in one place in a single region or district is being replaced by production networks with a coordinating contractor, subcontractors and suppliers. Information technology means that they can be located anywhere on the planet. This no longer applies only to manufacturing industry, but also to the services sector, including qualified service providers. This kind of restructuring hits workers and their communities the hardest: if a factory closes down they are affected directly, while the creation of new subcontracting or design jobs is more widely spread.

Restructuring of this nature calls for specific proactive and reactive supportive measures which are geared closely to the regions or businesses concerned.

This is what the Social Fund did in 2003, when the lead and zinc manufacturer Métaleurope announced that it was ceasing its activities in Noyelle-Godault in northern France. Rapid intervention by the European Social Fund enabled these workers, over 200 of whom were aged over 50, to be redeployed. The same happened when Rover closed down recently in the Midlands. There was immediate and constructive cooperation between the Commission and the British Government which allowed Social Fund resources to be channelled into providing individual support and retraining for over 2 000 workers.

The pace of restructuring is also increasing across sectors. There has been a constant drain on employment in the manufacturing industry and agriculture, which have lost some fifteen (15) million jobs in the last 25 years, while over forty-four (44) million jobs have been created in the services sector.

This has also had an impact on the skills distribution pattern. Highly skilled jobs increased by 20% to 24% of jobs in EU-15 between 1995 and 2004, while low-skilled jobs dropped by 34% to 25%.The challenge facing us is therefore clear. Europe must build a basis for dynamic and sustainable growth. It will not do so by specialising in unskilled labour-intensive activities. (Like in the US). Success depends on investing in “human capital” i.e. in the three mutually complementary areas of research, innovation and education."