Commissioners in digital jobs focus
The European Commission has launched the ‘Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs’ in Brussels with President José Manuel Barroso calling on Europe’s governments, digital businesses and education and training sectors to address the estimated 900,000 job vacancies expected in the European ICT sector by 2015.
The coalition brings together a variety of stakeholders across the public and private sectors who have pledged to address the gap between demand and supply. The group will develop a raft of measures to raise the level of ICT skills with the hope of also reducing the high level of unemployment in Europe.
At a media briefing, the European Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, László Andor and Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, outlined their thoughts on the proposal at the launch event in Brussels.
“This exercise started last year, where we used an employment package and the Commission has had many successes as a result,” Andor stated. “We have tried to identify growing sectors and despite the very grim outlook, we can and must anticipate job growth because of technological and demographic change.
“One of the three top areas is the ICT sector. Since then work has been on going on how to put into practice the action plan that has been included in this employment package. The gathering here is very impressive, with 300 attending this conference, mainly from business, but also researchers and government agencies. In my introduction I said that we have to work on both the demand and the supply side. We need to invest in teaching and learning the skills that are needed to fill one million ICT jobs, and we also need to encourage business and other organisations to open up these jobs. It is not something that will happen automatically, but will need some kind of encouragement.
“It is my responsibility to use some of the key financial instruments of the EU, and in my case it is the European social fund to boost e-skills in a variety of training and retraining projects.”
And Vice-President Neelie Kroes added: “If I am having one issue that I’m having sleepless nights about, it is youth unemployment. It is not only talking about people who don’t have a job, it’s talking about a lost generation. If you are in such circumstances, you can’t plan a family, you can’t plan a decent living and work towards your dreams.”
Asked how much this initiative could be linked and enhanced through the wider deepening of Europe’s Single Market, Andor responded: “One of my responsibilities is mobility. The Single Market is about – if we are very ambitious – a single labour market. We can make more major steps towards more dynamic flows and helping match supply with demand.
“One of the challenges is connecting this, and one of the pledges of the Commission itself is to further develop the EURES – the European Job Mobility Portal – for matching within the European labour market which has over one million vacancies – to help people pick up on these.
“It also requires closer work with the employment services especially with the countries on the demand side, and of course addressing the question of youth unemployment.”
Kroes added to this: “The Single Market itself is the crown jewel of the whole concept of the European Union, and having said that it is not finalised and there is lots to do. But we are on the move, and there are a couple of issues that could help the growth of the economy. If there was a single telecom market, it would make a lot of sense. This is talking about cost and cost effectiveness, and also about creating jobs where you could be more competitive with competitors outside Europe. We are trying to strengthen our position globally.
“Another issue that could create a lot of jobs, is dealing with copyright. Michel Barnier [Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services], Androulla Vassiliou [Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth] and myself, are looking at how to deal with this, but it ought to create a lot of jobs. It is all about more efficiency, and also giving opportunities for more mobility through recognition of certificates to provide opportunities not only in a jobseeker’s home country, but elsewhere in Europe.”
