The annual employment report by the European Commission, which was published at the end of July provides a useful overview of recent developments in the European Union labour markets and will form the basis for much future policy development.
It shows that total employment within the union is now 10 million higher than it was five years ago, with three million new jobs created last year and unemployment at its lowest level since 1991.
However, major challenges remain. These include reducing the gender gap in employment, increasing people's skills and mobility and improving the work/life balance across all areas of the community.
For the full report visit:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/employment_social/key_en.htm.
European-wide consultation on lifelong learning
The European Commission has produced a memorandum on lifelong learning to prompt a Europe-wide debate on the strategy for lifelong learning and its implementation at individual and institutional level.
The working paper looks at ways of defining and providing the skills needed for the new knowledge economy. It also highlights the need for greater investment of resources in promoting lifelong learning and developing ways of structuring and evaluating the learning process, with particular emphasis on the ICT. A report on the outcome of the debate will be drawn up in the autumn. The memorandum and consultation document can be found at:
www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/consultation/front.htm
European Corporate Social Responsibility:
The European Commission has presented a Green Paper outlining a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility. It proposes that companies voluntarily address social and environmental concerns in addition to the duties required by regulation. The aim is to raise standards of social development, environmental protection and respect of fundamental rights. The report suggests that this approach can be of direct economic value to companies and should be seen as an investment not a cost. The deadline to comment is 31 December 2001. The document is at:
http://www.europa. eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/csr_index.htm
Data Protection
The European Commission has published draft standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data overseas to processors within the European Union.
The aim is to make it easier for organisations to transfer personal data overseas by incorporating the standard contractual clauses in a contract. The Commission's opinion can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/dataprot/news/
ccprocessors.htm
CBI / Deloitte & Touche service sector survey
The latest volume was published on 3 September and shows a clear drop in confidence across the sector. For only the third time in the survey's history, optimism has fallen sharply in business and professional services firms, with companies recording business levels in value terms significantly below normal. Profitability has fallen sharply (a balance of -35 per cent), despite expectations in the previous quarter of a sustained rise of around 16 per cent. The trend is expected to continue into the next quarter.
The survey can be found at:
www.deloitte.co.uk or from CBI at www.cbi.org.uk
Source
The Facilities Business