Active employment policies IN EUROPEAN UNION AND GREECE

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Active employment policies IN EUROPEAN UNION AND
GREECE
Dr. Miltiadis Staboulis Labor Economics, PhD
staboulis_at_gnosianaptixiaki.gr tel. (30) 2310
403371
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Active Employment Policies

• Active employment policies
• attracting and retaining more people in
  employment
• Passive/traditional employment policies
• cash benefits for the unemployed

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Active employment policies

• Objectives
• Increasing employment and reducing unemployment
• Conservation of the quantitative size of the
  workforce and increase its working skills
• Strengthen mechanisms for matching of labor
  supply and demand
• Management of insurance for the unemployed

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Active employment policies

• Basic prerequisites for effective implementation
• Accurate and clear targeting of active
  intervention programs
• Combination with
• General employment policy
• Needs of companies
• Overall framework of objectives for growth and
  employment

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Active employment policies in EU

• Amsterdam Treaty (1997)
• Objectives
• Employability combating long-term unemployment
  and youth unemployment
• Entrepreneurship establishing clear, stable and
  predictable rules concerning the start-up and
  running of businesses and the simplification of
  administrative burdens on small and medium size
  enterprises (SMEs)
• Adaptability modernizing work organization and
  flexibility of working arrangements and putting
  in place of a framework for more adaptable forms
  of contracts
• Equal opportunities combating the gender gap and
  supporting the increased employment of women

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Active employment policies in EU

• Lisbon Strategy (2000)
• Objectives by 2010
• EU to become the most dynamic and competitive
  knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010
  capable of sustainable economic growth with more
  and better jobs and greater social cohesion and
  respect for the environment
• Increasing the employment rate from 62.2 (1999)
  to 70 and 60 less for women (2010)

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Active employment policies in EU

• Revision of Lisbon Strategy (2005)
• Active and preventive measures for the unemployed
  and inactive people focus on training and career
  guidance and job creation
• Developing National Reform Programs by each
  Member State

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Active employment policies in EU

• Revision of Lisbon Strategy (2005)
• Two cycles
• 2005-2007
• 2008-2010 Implementation of employment policies

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Active employment policies in EU

• Financing
• Progress Program (2006)
• Areas
• Employment
• Social inclusion and protection
• Working conditions
• Non-discrimination
• Gender equality

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Active employment policies in EU

• European Union 2020
• Priorities
• Growth based on knowledge and innovation
• An inclusive high-employment society
• Green growth a competitive and sustainable
  economy

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Active employment policies in Greece

• Objectives
• Wage subsidy
• Temporary reductions in social security
  contributions
• Creating jobs in areas like the environment
  through specific incentives
• Local employment initiatives
• Education and training

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Active employment policies in Greece

• Implementation of active employment policies
• Initiative co-financed by structural funds and
  programs managed by the European Commission
• Local Employment Pacts
• Local Development Initiatives
• Projects funded under Article 6 of the ESF

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Active employment policies in Greece

• Period 2000-2006
• The creation of local employment was mostly
  horizontal objective of the ESF measures.
• Interventions
• Local Initiatives for Employment
• Integrated Actions Intervention in Local Small
  Scale Urban Areas
• Integrated Projects for Rural Development
• Operational Program Employment and vocational
  training 2000-2006 Improvement of the access
  and participation of women into the labor market

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Active employment policies in Greece

• Greek National Employment Agency (OAED) through
  funding the Account for Employment and Vocational
  Training (LAEK)
• Integrated interventions for areas in crisis or
  deindustrialization with redundancies

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Active employment policies in Greece

• NSRF 2007-2013
• Operational Program Human resources development
  2007-2013
• Objectives
• Utilization of all human resources as a moving
  force for the countrys growth
• Reinforcement of social cohesion
• Priority axes
• Supporting Adaptability of Human Resources and
  Enterprises
• Facilitating Access to Employment
• Complete Integration of all Human Resources into
  a Society of Equal Opportunities
• Establishment of Reform in the Mental Health
  Sector -Development of Primary Healthcare and
  Promotion of Public Health

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Conclusions

• The active employment policies
• were not the only tool for tackling unemployment,
  but also a means to achieve a sustainable,
  competitive and dynamic EU economy
• have not brought the desired results
• The new strategy EU 2020 aims to create
  potential for growth and employment growth with
  actions at local / national and Community level,
  based on the achievements of Lisbon Strategy and
  new guidelines (innovation, green economy)

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Conclusions

• The Greek active employment policies
• Applied with considerable delay
• Did not have the desired effects as the youth and
  woman unemployment rate remained at high levels
• Include in the period 2007-2013
• National scale and local employment actions
• New jobs to exploit new sources of growth based
  on
• Knowledge and innovation
• Green growth
• The modernization and sustainability of the
  productive sectors of the Greek Economy