Transcript Dia 1 - unideb.hu

Rural Employment Policy in
the European Union
Hilkka Vihinen
RuralJobs Regional Seminar
Debrecen,12 September, 2008
Outline: how EU rural employment as an
issue is addressed in EU policies
Employment policy in the EU
The rural dimension: CAP and RDP
Rural employment challenges in the EU
Lessons learnt so far
Employment policy in the EU
• Free movement of production factors is one of the cornerstones of
the EU – labour mobility.
• Originally an economic community – social and territorial aspects
appeared much later.
• EU has evolved from the customs union, the four fundamental
freedoms, common rules on competition and economic and
monetary co-operation to economic and monetary union and a
single currency. As the construction of the 'economic union‘ has
been completed, the social dimension of the EU has been
strengthened.
• Employment policy mainly in the mandate of the MSs, EU has a
coordinating role.
•
Amsterdam Treaty (1997) put employment for the first time firmly on the
Union’s political agenda. The commitment to coordinate employment
policies and to promote the creation of more and better jobs was translated
into the European Employment Strategy (EES).
•
EES objectives: achieving full employment, increasing productivity and
quality at work, and promoting cohesion.
•
Lisbon Strategy (2000, relaunched 2005) integrated the economic and social
dimensions of the EU, and aims at making Europe the most competitive
and dynamic knowledge economy in the world.
•
By 2010, the EU is to reach the overall employment rate of 70 %, an
employment rate for women of 60 % and an employment rate for older
workers of 50 %. Also better jobs.
•
The EES is the policy instrument to achieve these goals.
• EES sets out action in four priority areas:
employability, entrepreneurship, adaptability of the
workforce and business, equality of opportunity between
men and women.
• The European Social Fund is the main funding instrument of
the EES, including different measures and initiatives.
• The EES has supported since the beginning the
development of a territorial dimension of employment
policies, underpinned in recent years by the emergence of
regional and local action plans throughout Europe.
Local approaches prioritised in EU
employment policy, because
• national labour markets show substantial geographical variations
which require adjusted local policy approaches;
• labour markets are largely locally based in contrast to globalising
product and capital markets;
• local stakeholders have the advantage of being close to problems;
• local action can build local social capital which can support the
momentum of the decentralisation process;
• and most importantly, the multi-dimensional character of
employment and development problems requires policy approaches
which are able to integrate the plurality of ‘sectoral policies’ into a
coherent local development concept.
However,
• EU employment policy, the EES in particular, addresses
the territorial dimension with the local, without
distinguishing between rural and urban localities.
• Growth centre orientation dominates the regional/spatial
development strategy of the EU.
• Thus, a genuinely rural employment policy is still lacking
to a large extent.
The rural dimension
• Common agricultural policy has long been the core of
the EU, and one of its few common policies.
• In the mid 70s, the LFA Directive introduced the first
territorial component of the CAP. During the 80s, first
attempts were made at integrated approaches with the
other Structural Funds, but it was with the 1988 reform of
the Structural Funds when the EU presented a policy
concept of rural development going beyond the farm
sector.
• The Maastricht Treaty (1993) anchored RDP to the objective of
cohesion, which was simultaneously turned into one of the three
pillars of the EU (economic and monetary union & the single market
as others). Cohesion is thus the legal basis of RDP.
• With the Agenda 2000, rural development became the second pillar
of the CAP.
• The dimension of rural areas has penetrated into the EU policy both
from the reframing of the CAP, and from the gradual increase of the
political importance of territorial cohesion. Yet, at the moment, the
agrarian and land management (environmental) interests dominate
the content and the governance of the rural dimension in the EU.
Current and future challenges in
rural employment
• At the turn of the century, appr. 56 % of the ‘new’ EU population of
450 m people lived in rural regions. Most negative rural population
trends have been traced in the 12 New Member States –
demographic ageing, masculinisation, outmigration.
• The primary sector accounts for less than 10 % of total empl. and in
one third of rural areas its share is less than 5 %, however, in some
rural areas in the East and the South of the EU its share is above 25
%.
• Agriculture is a low productivity sector that has increased its
productivity by diminishing labour (esp. in NMs).
• Deagriculturalisation’; social and economic diversification of rural
areas.
• Simultaneously, new technologies, increasing use of contractors,
and labour mobility (legal/illegal immigration) affect strongly the way
how work is done in agriculture.
• Most new jobs in EU are created in the service sector, both in urban
and rural areas.
• The number of self-employed increases – entrepreneurship.
• On- and off-farm business diversification, portfolio entrepreneurs.
• Commuting and distance work.
• Lack of (skilled) labour – immigration?
• In policy making there will be greater focus on economy-wide
measures and regulations applied to the agri-food sector, as well as
more attention to targeted policies to achieve multiple objectives.
Lessons learnt so far : national level
Generate integrative regional development approaches: The strong
links of active labour market policies with economic, environmental,
cultural and societal factors call for a wide regional development
approach.
The promotion of local employment development would therefore
include measures which develop the human capital basis of the
territory, support economic growth, strengthen the cultural identity of
the region, and promote integrative policy thinking at local level.
This would address a wide circle of local actors and will be the key to
involve business partners in local partnerships. Most importantly,
this would facilitate the development of coherent and comprehensive
local plans.
Local level
Prepare local development plans: Local development
plans can have several beneficial effects. First, they can
serve as a focal point for coordinating funding from
different sources. Second, they can develop ‘horizontal’
thinking that transcends traditional sectoral policy
approaches. Third, they can give an orientation to the
public on activities in the economic and social fields, thus
contributing to the co-ordination of local stakeholders.
Enhance efficiency and accountability of local
partnerships: Local partnerships need a clear definition
of targets, an adequate selection of partners and
territories, an efficient decision-making process, and an
agreement on the distribution of expected benefits. They
need efficient management structures and appropriate
controlling instruments. Otherwise partnerships may
cause high costs and perform inefficiently. Exchange of
experience among local actors can help develop ideas
on how to organise integrated partnerships.
Improve the professional capacities for employment
policy action: The central point for improving the
professional capacities is not only the problem of training
and information exchange. The problem is the capability
of local authorities to establish organisations or expert
groups for local employment development. Local
authorities should be supported to create the units within
their organisation or to establish external organisations
for local employment development.
To conclude…
Hardly any specifically rural (qualitatively different) mode of
employment policies to be found at the EU level: action is based on
the understanding of general processes of economic change in
which the structure of the national (or international) economy
conditions the structure of the rural employment.
There is an increased awareness of how engagement and action at the
local level can add value to policies that are often, initially at least,
conceived and managed at higher levels;
and that the local level can contribute to the management and
conception, not just to the delivery and implementation.
• Practitioners: Some key characteristics of economic
formations suggest that the most dynamic economic
areas seem to be comprised of innovative clusters in
which networks, norms, conventions and horizontal
relations of reciprocity are to the fore – trust, respect,
collaboration, learning.
• Researchers: Both endogenous and exogenous
development processes matter in successful cases and
should be apprehended in analyses.