European labour markets have seen employment gains since 2000 virtually wiped out by the economic crisis of the past two years, a European Commission report said on Monday.
More than four million jobs have been lost in the European Union since a financial crisis first triggered recession in the United States, and the tally would have been more but for measures such as shorter working hours.
However, the biggest changes in working patterns across the 27-member EU may be yet to come — with the transition to a low-carbon economy over the next decade expected to force a radical realignment of tasks for many workers.
Each year, the report says, about 22% of European workers change jobs — with high rates of ”dynamism” at more than one in four employees in Britain, Denmark, Finland and Spain.
However, periods of unemployment remain entrenched — with nearly half of all spells out of the workforce lasting longer than a year, compared to just one in 10 across the US.
”Although the total net job creation effects may not be very large — as creation of new ‘green’ jobs and greening of existing jobs will partly be offset by loss of some existing jobs — the underlying structural changes will involve re-allocation of workers across economic sectors and skill types,” the report said of the impact of new policies to combat global warming.
With new technologies and skills requirements taking root, training and publicity campaigns are said to hold the key.
Simulations suggest that ”total employment in the renewable sector could amount to about 2,3-million jobs in 2020,” although net new jobs may only be as little as 115 000, about a third of which are expected to be skilled jobs.
Unemployment across the EU — home to half a billion people and the world’s biggest trading bloc — was more than 22-million people in September, the highest level since comparable records began in 2000.
The commission expects the rate across the 16 countries that use the euro currency to rise to 10,7% in 2010 — well over 15-million people — and hit 10,9% in 2011. — AFP