Labour Policy as a Pledge for an Innovative and Competitive Labour Market

Abstract

Since the Treaty of Amsterdam added a new Title VIII on Employment to the Treaty establishing the European Community, coordination of Member States’ employment policies has become a Community priority.
A list of targets has been drawn up in Lisbon Strategy when the European Union committed to becoming ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world.’
This strategy, developed at subsequent meetings of the European Council, rests on three pillars: an economic pillar preparing the ground for the transition to a competitive, dynamic, knowledge-based economy. Emphasis is placed on the need to adapt constantly to changes in the information society and to boost research and development. A social pillar is designed to modernize the European social model by investing in human resources and combating social exclusion. The Member States are expected to invest in education and training, and to conduct an active policy for employment, making it easier to move to a knowledge economy. And finally an environmental pillar, which was added at the Göteborg European Council meeting in June 2001, draws attention to the fact that economic growth must be decoupled from the use of natural resources.
However, the implementation period is over this year, and many critics complain that not much progress has been made on achieving these ambitious goals, member states are still working on development of national labour markets and their performance. After the recent global economic downturn, governments seem to have been reluctant to push through difficult and unpopular economic reforms or to focus on increasing their national budgets for research and innovation.