synthesis report on anticipating and managing restructuring in the eu 27 member states dissemination...

Synthesis Report on Anticipating and Managing Restructuringin the EU 27 Member StatesDissemination of the results – European

Parliament /EMPL Committee Brussels, 14th April 2011

European Commission

Employment, Social Affair and Equal opportunities

ARENAS objectives &Methodology27 National Background Papers (NBPs) with

case studies prepared by 27 independent experts27 national tripartite seminars held to discuss

NBPs and to examine the case studies27 NBPs revised & published after seminars Synthesis report prepared by 3 independent

authors based on the evidence in 27 NBPs and 27 seminar minutes

European Commission


Limitations with methodologyLimited availability of data on restructuring at

country levelPossible expert biasSeminar debates include only the views of

participants who attendedChallenges in synthesizing rich & complex

information

European Commission


Basis for the report

Coverage of every Member State of the EU. Period covered: April 2009 to June 2010 76 measures for anticipating restructuring 111 measures for managing restructuring 88 case studies More than 800 seminar participants 54 private companies involved in case studies.

European Commission


Context for drawing conclusions

Economic & financial crisis Rising unemployment from 7% (2008) to 10%

(2010) Eurozone - 9.6% EU 27Formulation & implementation of government anti-

crisis measuresDiverse labour market situations: main types of

labour market situation

European Commission


• a group of countries with modest LM spending, mainly Central & Eastern Europe

• a group of high spending countries with a blend of measures – services, measures & support

(i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Finland & Sweden)• a group of countries with a high share of LM

spending on support measures (i.e. Germany)

European Commission


Spending on labour market policy measures

Classification of anticipation measures

Measures based on forecasting of economic and labour market trends

Measures aimed at anticipating and facilitating transition during a period of change, including training and skills adaptation.

European Commission


Main measures for anticipating restructuring (I)

1. Economic forecasting measures (e.g. Government Foresight Network in Finland)

2. Labour market forecasting measures (e.g. Estonia & Portugal)

3. Regional anticipating and monitoring system (e.g. Moravian-Silesian Region of Czech Republic & TKTT Finland)

4. Early warning system (e.g. Slovenia & Ireland)

European Commission


Anticipating & Supporting Transition (II)Skills boosting (e.g. Netherlands -Platform Beta

Technics)Encouraging innovation (e.g. France – technology

poles),Encouraging innovation in SMEs (e.g. Hungary,

Portugal, Latvia & Slovakia)Attracting investment (e.g. Slovakia – SARIO)

European Commission


Anticipating & Supporting Transition (III)

Sectoral initiatives (e.g. Netherlands - bipartite training & development funds for construction industry)

Regional initiatives (e.g. Italy – territorial employment pacts, Sweden – multi-stakeholder organizations like Business Region Göteborg)

European Commission


Anticipating & Supporting Transition (IV)

Supporting individual transition (e.g. Portugal – New Opportunities” , UK. Individual learning accounts)

Continuous vocational training (e.g. Germany – lifelong learning for workers)

Support through collective bargaining (e.g. France – GPEC –)

European Commission


Lesson learned - anticipating restructuringConcept of anticipating restructuring not

universally recognized across EUBut all countries have some anticipatory measures Role of state is key factor for anticipatory

measuresAnticipatory measures at company level can be

very effective, especially use of social dialogue & collective bargaining.

No systematic evaluation of impact of measures.

European Commission


Classification of measures to manage restructuring

1. Measures to avoid redundancies

2. Measures for managing redundancies

3. Training for transition & reintegration

European Commission


Measures to avoid redundancies (I)

Wage reduction & wage subsidiesShort-time working (e.g. Flexikonto in Slovakia

& S/T work in Austria)Partial unemployment (e.g. Netherlands)Temporary lay-offs (e.g. Belgium & Italy)

European Commission


Measures for managing redundancies (II)

Early retirement (quite common in many Member States e.g. Spain)

Dismissal & severance pay (not always a legal obligation for employers e.g. Denmark & Sweden)

Dismissal & transition to alternative employment (e.g. Sweden – Job Security Councils)

European Commission


Training for transition & reintegration (III)

Examples:Estonia – accrediting prior experiential learningNetherlands – from “Work to work Programme”Czech Republic – “Educate Yourself

Programme”Portugal – “Qualification Employment

Programme”

European Commission


Lesson learned – managing restructuring (I)

Wide range of measures exist in Member StatesBut availability of specific measures is uneven

across Member States.A majority of Member States give priority to

measures for avoiding redundancies.A few Member States give priority to job

transition measures.

European Commission


Lesson learned – managing restructuring (II) New measures such as short-time working and

partial unemployment were introduced or temporarily extended owing to the economic crisis.

It is too early to assess the impact of the recent measures

European Commission


Dynamics & trends Social dialogue has proven to be very effective for

anticipating & managing restructuring.State intervention taken to safeguard jobs provoked

by the economic crisis. Innovations in the support offered by PES.More involvement of local & regional government in

mitigating effects of restructuring.

European Commission


Issues & dilemmas Eligibility of temporary & atypical workers for support? Restructuring practices in SMEs do not address re-

training and job-to-job transfers. Vulnerable groups of workers lose out due to

restructuring. Not easy to delineate company versus public

responsibility for supporting worker transition. Questions about the design of worker training

schemes.

European Commission


for further information

http://arenas.itcilo.org/

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=819&langId=en

European Commission


http://arenas.itcilo.org/

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=819&langId=en

synthesis report on anticipating and managing restructuring in the eu 27 member states dissemination...

Documents