Employment: data and challenges in the EU candidate countries

Citation

(2003), "Employment: data and challenges in the EU candidate countries", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2003.00327fab.006

Employment: data and challenges in the EU candidate countries

Employment: data and challenges in the EU candidate countries

There is an urgent need to increase skills, employment rates and employment in services, and to reduce reliance on agriculture and traditional industrial sectors, in the 12 candidate countries for EU entry.

A European Commission report states that that there are significant differences between the candidate countries' labour-market performances, but they have generally made progress in transforming their labour markets and in adjusting their policies to fit the objectives of the European employment strategy.

The most recent available data show that if enlargement happened today, the employment rate of a 25-state EU would be 62.6 per cent, and of a 27-state EU it would be 62.4 per cent. The employment rate of the 15-member EU is 63.8 per cent. The Lisbon strategy sets an intermediate target for the EU employment rate of 67 per cent in 2005.

The report will guide candidate countries in shaping their national development plans setting out employment and human-resource policies, including use of the European Social Fund, which are to be submitted to the commission later this year.