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Overall Developments structure to ensure that, in relation to early school leavers there is a balance between the desire to enter the work force early, and the need to continue appropriate education and training. This is done by requiring that a young person (under 18), who has left school without adequate qualifications, and is not engaged in education or training, must engage in such a programme of education and training if he/she wishes to engage in employment. The Act provides a framework that will ensure that all such young people under 18 years who have left school early are identified. Once identified, the National Education Welfare Board has a responsibility to assist the people in question with access to continuing education and training. Employers will have a role to play in the identification of the young people concerned by employing only such young people who have a certificate to show that they are registered with the Board and by informing the Board when they employ a young person. FÁS FÁS has recently issued a new statement of strategy. In section 7 (priority goals) FÁS identifies three main client groups on which it will focus its programmes and resources. The third of these is: targeted sectors/companies and employees that will require upskilling and employees in companies in difficulty. The strategy statement goes on to say that: ‘‘FÁS will make a significant increase in the level of activity it provides in this area, and in particular, for targeted sectors of the labour market. This will be done in co-operation with other relevant organisations and groups.’’ Taking the agenda forward The third level institutions, the HEA, FÁS, further education and training, community, workplace and further education providers have a central role to play in taking the Lifelong Learning agenda forward. Bodies such as the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, the National Training Advisory Committee, the National Qualifications Authority and the National Adult Learning Council will also continue to shape the agenda. ITALY Labour market reform in Italy A major effort has been undertaken in Italy to reform the labour market in co-ordination with the far-reaching process of constitutional review (Constitutional Law No. 3 of 2001) concerning the provisions of Title V. Title V enshrines in the Constitution the principle of the equal status and autonomy of the central government, the regions and local governments by affirming the ordinary nature of the regions’ exclusive legislative powers while according only a qualifying role to the general principle of the state’s exclusive legislative powers or principle of concurrent legislation. This will no doubt have major repercussions on the country’s institutional framework. It is in this institutional context that we should view the reform of the labour market which, in accordance with the conclusions of the Lisbon and Barcelona summits, aims to: • modernise the employment service, both public1 and private, while at the same time respecting the powers of the regions and local governments; • introduce more flexible forms and methods of organisation; work • strengthen the synergy between work and lifelong training; • counter the informal economy, which results in precarious employment relations and prevents the growth of companies operating within the informal sector. Financial Law No. 289 of 31/12/2002, which sets out a plan for 2003, provides for the direct allocation of funds to boost overall demand and revitalise public and private investment as well as private consumption. It is hoped that this will improve the economic and institutional context which is seen as an essential precondition for the growth and competitiveness of the Italian labour market. Particularly significant are the provisions concerning: • the launch of the fiscal reform; • the resource allocation programme to stimulate output and the building of infrastructure (especially in the south) in order to create a more attractive market for investors, including foreign ones; • the networking of companies; • the need to improve the cost-effectiveness of public expenditure in terms of the development of production and employment. As regards the labour market, the plan aims to support the growth of productivity, particularly in the southern regions, as well as the development of vocational and further training policies, with special emphasis on the needs of young people, women and older workers. The extension until 31 December 2006 of the scheme under which contributions are attributed to the employer in the form of a tax credit linked to job creation deserves special mention, as does the introduction of a new procedure for authorising this incentive: for each new worker employed, the employer will be entitled to claim a contribution of €100, or €150 if the employed worker is over 45. In the southern regions and other areas with high unemployment rates, a further contribution of €300 will be awarded. Other significant measures are: • the financing of actions to promote vocational training; • the provisions increasing ordinary unemployment benefit and lengthening its duration in order not to discourage employers from making job offers; • the provisions regarding the abolition of the incompatibility between retirement pensions and income from work, started on 1 January 2003, in order to encourage people to continue to work; • the creation of a revolving fund to finance employers who provide childcare facilities in the workplace in order to provide support for employees with young children. The guidelines for structural reforms to promote employment were set out in the White Paper on the Labour Market in Italy (October 2001) and in the Pact for Italy signed between the Government and the social partners (July 2002). On 5 February 2003, a legislative decree was passed entrusting the government with policymaking in the area of employment and the labour market (14 February 2003, No. 30). Under this law, Parliament authorised the Government to enact a number of legislative decrees containing the basic principles that were to govern the public employment services and the job placement systems (both public and private) as well as the supply of manpower and the review of training contracts, apprenticeships, part-time contracts and new types of flexible employment. 18 Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review
Subsequently, the provisions concerning the public employment services were removed from that legislative decree and included in Legislative Decree 297/2002. Legislative Decree No. 297 of 19 December 2002 comprises provisions to modify and improve the procedures to match employment supply and demand and, more generally, to reform the existing regulations governing the employment services system, with a view to simplifying the procedures and definitively transforming the placement system from a public department into a service. The legal definition of “unemployed status” has been reviewed so as to include, in addition to the existing requirements of “joblessness” and “immediate availability for work”, the requirement for the unemployed person to engage in “the search for gainful employment in ways agreed with the relevant services”. The aim of this is to ensure the “involuntary nature” of unemployment and to enable a quicker response from the “relevant services”. The latter will include not only the “provincial employment centres” but also “other bodies authorised or accredited to carry out the required job information and placement tasks”. The law has sanctioned the two general principles (already established in the regulations) of the “abolition of the ordinary and special placement lists”, excepting certain specific categories of workers (e.g. handicapped workers), and “direct employment”, with a number of exceptions concerning non-EU workers, Italian workers employed or seconded abroad, and handicapped workers. The provisions governing the certification of unemployment and its duration have remained virtually unchanged in practice and include a registration system based on the statements made by applicants within 180 days of the date when the law came into force. The regulations concerning the verification and regular checking of workers’ status as unemployed have been modified, while the regions have been expressly entrusted with the task of defining appropriate operational guidelines. These tasks will be implemented by the “relevant services” on the basis of the mandatory supply of information by employers and with a view to ensuring “respect for the measures agreed with the unemployed person”. The immediate loss of unemployed status can now result both from the unemployed person’s failure to comply with the commitments made with the employment service and by his or her refusal to accept an appropriate offer of employment without a justifiable reason. Any such offer of employment made on the basis of a fixed-term or temporary employment contract cannot be refused when the term of the contract is at least four months in the case of younger workers or eight months in all other cases. The regulations provide for workers to retain their unemployed status when the annual income they generate is lower than the legally established minimum personal income or when they are engaged in socially useful work. On the other hand, unemployed status is suspended when a worker accepts an offer of fixed-term or temporary employment for a period of less than eight months (or four months in the case of younger workers). The activities to be implemented by the relevant services to prevent long-term unemployment have also been reviewed. The role of the regions has been strengthened: they are to define “the objectives and operational guidelines for the actions implemented by the relevant services” while at the same time the new “state regulations” will guarantee compliance with the essential minimum standards set for these activities. The various policies to combat long-term unemployment will target a larger population and will be implemented on a shorter timescale. “Career guidance interviews” will be provided for all unemployed workers – not only younger Overall Developments ones and teenagers – “within three months of their registration as unemployed”. “The proposal to join vocational integration or training schemes” or initiatives “to obtain new vocational qualifications as well as other vocational integration measures” must be put forward within four months in the case of unemployed teenagers, young people and women, or six months in the case of “other long-term unemployed persons”. The new legislation establishes more stringent rules than those previously in force, with earlier deadlines for implementation than those established in the EU guidelines. Furthermore, the information which employers must provide to the relevant services will form an integral part of the employment relationship and will be comprehensive (i.e. cover many forms of “atypical” work), effective “in a multiplicity of ways”, and appropriate “for the purpose of fulfilling the established obligations with regard to monitoring and ensuring the welfare of workers”. However, the provisions described above do not apply to civil servants. Legislative Decree No. 30/2003 has broadened the range of entities eligible to act as employment agencies or intermediaries for the contracting of labour (including local governments, non-registered associations, bilateral bodies, universities, educational institutions and employment consultants) and has abolished the prohibition – previously established by Law 360/1960 – to supply labour on behalf of third parties. The legislature will be responsible for redefining the appropriate criteria for distinguishing between various types of contracts for the procurement and supply of labour, also for the purpose of identifying unlawful practices and establishing new and specific penalties under the civil and/or criminal codes. Reforms have also been introduced in the welfare regulations concerning the authorisation and accreditation of operators supplying manpower. A single set of regulations will now apply to private operators (provision has been made, in their case, for lifting the restrictions concerning the exclusive object of the undertaking) and public intermediaries. The rules for authorisation will vary depending on the legal status of the intermediary and the activity carried out. The supply of manpower for open-ended employment will be authorised (where justified) on technical, organisational or operational grounds as set out in legislation or in collective agreements, and the provisions concerning temporary work will be extended to the agricultural sector. The law provides for measures to encourage co-ordination and cooperation between private and public operators, who will be networked electronically (Sistema Informativo Lavoro – Labour Information System). As regards employment contracts with an educational content (vocational training contracts, apprenticeships, practice periods), it should be noted that – in the case of apprenticeship and vocational training contracts – the training activities may be programmed and organised on a flexible basis in co-operation, where appropriate, with trade union and employers’ representatives. Apprenticeship contracts (contratti di apprendistato) are confirmed in their role as the principal training instrument (also in the context of highereducation sandwich courses) and linchpin between the education and training systems, whereas vocational training contracts (contratti di formazione) will be used mainly as a means of integrating or re-integrating the worker into the company. Simplified procedures – including “automatic criteria” – are also planned for the assignation and recognition of the incentives associated with these contracts. Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review 19
Page 1 and 2: Employment & European Social Fund E
Page 3 and 4: European Employment Observatory Rev
Page 5 and 6: Table of Contents Policies Overall
Page 7 and 8: AUSTRIA The programme of the Austri
Page 9 and 10: FINLAND Essential changes to legisl
Page 11 and 12: At least one quarter of the members
Page 13 and 14: in the event of a third and subsequ
Page 15 and 16: of active labour-market policy, as
Page 17: Training Networks Programme The Tra
Page 21 and 22: a strengthening and revitalisation
Page 23 and 24: workers into the labour market as w
Page 25 and 26: This reinforced targeting and resul
Page 27 and 28: BELGIUM The Occupational Immersion
Page 29 and 30: Agreement on converting 10,000 subs
Page 31 and 32: outplacement procedure, its duratio
Page 33 and 34: Integration agreements Another impo
Page 35 and 36: and local job and volunteering oppo
Page 37 and 38: FINLAND Preliminary information on
Page 39 and 40: BELGIUM Harmonisation and simplific
Page 41 and 42: • Returning migrants Eligibility
Page 43 and 44: Playing the generation game: an ove
Page 45 and 46: workers, who have either exited the
Page 47 and 48: e) Finland’s comprehensive approa
Page 49 and 50: Compared with the figures for 1997,
Page 51 and 52: Table 4: Activity quotas by age and
Page 53 and 54: Table 6: Length of unemployment by
Page 55 and 56: 4Prospects In view of the demograph
Page 57 and 58: and is exempted from the obligation
Page 59 and 60: The Government is also addressing t
Page 61 and 62: permanente, 97-124 Desmet, R. and J
Page 63 and 64: Table 4: Breakdown by age of older
Page 65 and 66: Figure 1: Gender gap in the activit
Page 67 and 68: Figure 5: Effective and statutory r
Page 69 and 70:
3. Recent trends in policies As alr
Page 71 and 72:
3.3 Labour market programmes for el
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Figure 1: Population aged 15 and ov
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Table 3: Labour market transition r
Page 77 and 78:
companies. One of these projects wa
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Table 2: Projection of the economic
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Table 8: Numbers entering Early Ret
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Figure 1: Rate of access to trainin
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Germany 1 Introduction As far back
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Figure 3: Potentially economically
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Figure 5: Take-up of early-retireme
Page 91 and 92:
Figure 8: Average amounts paid unde
Page 93 and 94:
64.5% (Hain/Tautz 2001: 365) withou
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Table 6: Collectively agreed workin
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Strukturbruch und Arbeitsmark-tentw
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men (Figure 3). In clear contrast w
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Figure 5: Unemployment rates, males
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More recent data, provided by Euros
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pensions retracted to normal levels
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Ireland 1. Introduction This Paper
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Table 3: Labour force trends, 1991-
Page 111 and 112:
Table 4: Employment by age across s
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Occupational pensions There are als
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Italy 1. Introduction The EU offici
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Table 7: Activity rates (age 55-64)
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Table 10: Forecasts of employment r
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should take the territorial imbalan
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2. Statistical Data 5 Number of pen
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4.2 Measures to encourage older wor
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6. Conclusions With regard to keepi
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level. No taxes and social premiums
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edundancy scheme by employers. The
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uittreding: early retirement) schem
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Figure 4: Dependency and ageing ind
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Figure 8: Percentage of working age
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Figure 11: Average age of workers l
Page 141 and 142:
Figure 2: percentage change between
Page 143 and 144:
Figure 4: Figure 5: 25 20 15 10 0 -
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100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Figu
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However, this measure does not cove
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Table 1(a): Employment rate, men, 5
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Figure 3(b): Main Source of income
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4. Policies to stimulate active age
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Appendix Table A1(a): Participation
Page 157 and 158:
Venta • Salg • Verkauf • Pvl
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