Resolution on skills and mobility

1) OBJECTIVE

To promote the learning of new skills and encourage occupational and geographical mobility between sectors and regions in order to improve employability and enhance social cohesion.

2) ACT

Council Resolution of 3 June 2002 on skills and mobility [Official Journal C 162 of 06.07.2002].

3) SUMMARY

Background

The Lisbon European Council of March 2000 and the Stockholm Council of March 2001 acknowledged that a knowledge-based society was essential if the strategic goal of full employment was to be met by 2010.

The gap which sometimes exists between education and training programmes and the employment market, particularly in fields such as information technology and foreign languages, is an obstacle to true occupational and geographical mobility between sectors and regions. This resolution encourages the European Commission, the Member States and the social partners to take initiatives in this area.

Initiatives envisaged

Given the role of lifelong learning in promoting mobility and tackling unemployment, the Council proposes action on three levels with a view to:

• increasing investment in education and training, particularly in the field of electronic communications;
• improving the system of mutual recognition of qualifications;
• calling on the public authorities and civil society for coordinated strategies in training.

The Commission, the Member States and the social partners are the three parties identified in the resolution. It calls, more specifically, on the Commission and the Member States to take concrete initiatives to promote increased cooperation in education and training.

In the area of lifelong learning, the Council also calls on the Member States, in collaboration with the social partners, to develop the necessary skills to help students make the transition to the world of work, to help the unemployed to return to work and to provide workers with further training so that they can progress in their work.

In order to identify the problems with a view to tackling them at their root, the Council calls on the Member States to develop European Union statistics to monitor geographical mobility and skills gaps. The development of a job vacancy survey at EU level would therefore be particularly useful in identifying the skills shortages affecting the labour market.

To make it easier to look for jobs throughout Europe, the Council calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for the modernisation of the EURES system and a proposal for a European health insurance card. The resolution calls for greater transferability of social security rights, including pensions, throughout the European Union, and asks the Member States to take the necessary steps. As worker mobility also requires greater transparency in the recognition of vocational qualifications acquired in a Member State, the Council is in favour of closer collaboration in this field between the Commission, the Member States and the social partners.

The Council also mentions the decision to set up a one-stop information website on European job mobility. This resolution also calls on the social partners to take part in information campaigns on mobility in order to improve the image of the sectors and occupations with labour shortages and to promote the access of workers to them.

This resolution also calls on the Commission to submit an annual report.

Last updated: 10.09.2002