OECD/EU jobs conference in Helsinki

OECD/EU jobs conference in Helsinki

Keywords: European Union, Employment, Unemployment

Earlier this year, Finland's ministeries of labour and finance, with the support of the OECD and the European Commission, hosted a two-day international conference on jobs in Helsinki. The purpose of the event was to test whether OECD and EU employment strategies have delivered more jobs and cut structural unemployment. Opening addresses were given by Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland, Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs and Thorvald Moe, Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD.

The conference, which attracted 120 participants from OECD countries and international organisations, focused on four key themes:

• 1.

  assessing job strategies;

• 2.

  making work pay;

• 3.

  the search for active and preventive measures at the margins of the labour market; and

• 4.

  policy conclusions.

The OECD Jobs Strategy, launched in 1994, covered many areas of policy and includes detailed country-specific recommendations. A report entitled"Implementing the OECD Jobs strategy - assessing performance and policy",published in September 1999, took stock of member countries' experience in implementing this strategy and highlighted areas for further work.

At EU level, Member States have adopted a common employment strategy based on agreed objectives, annual monitoring of each country's performance and peer review. The Helsinki Summit of December 1999, led to the adoption of a joint employment report for 1999, as well as of employment guidelines for 2000 and -for the first time - country-specific recommendations based on new provisions in the Amsterdam Treaty.