EU-Japan Contact
Group

Balance between family and working life as apre-condition for a demographic restoration ofBalance between
the society Family andWorking Life as a Precondition for a DemographicRestoration of the Society
Erika Koller
Member of EESC
Group II

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Aging Society
Proportion of people aged 65 or over inthe population will rise from 17.1% in2008 to 30% in 2060.
The average ratio between people ofworking age (15-64) and people aged
65 and over will change from 4:1 now to2:1 in 2050.
Moreover, there is a fall in the birth rate.
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Aging society + a fall in thebirth rate

Lack of labour force3

Lack of Labour Force
Solutions:Migrant workers – doesn’t solve the problem
Women have to take part in the labourmarket

4Consensus at EU Level on theBalance between
and working
life as aImportanceoffamily
Policies
Promotingpre-condition for a demographic restoration ofWork-life
Balancethe society
The issue of care and reconciliation of private andprofessional life has been on theEuropean political agenda since 2006

Consultations with the social partners
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History of the Debate• EU agenda since the 1980s focused mainly on
how women can combine a career and family
responsibilities• During the 1990s, steps were taken towards
forming an agenda of reconciliation of work andfamily life
• Today the issue appears to be high on theagenda of the EU institutions and the social
partners
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Reconciliation of Family andWork
European focus on labour market and family
needs
Research activities:- Eurofound: Reconciliation of work andfamily life and collective bargaining in theEuropean Union- OECD (Babies and Bosses)
7Issues to be Tackled• Special leave and career breaks: this may
include educational leave, career breaks,
maternity leave, parental leave andbereavement leave;• Part-time working: part-time hours of work
may be arranged to suit both the employer
and the employee;• Flexitime: this enables workers to adjust or
personalise their working time;8• Compressed working week: the employee works
the full number of hours on a reduced number ofdays a week, for example 38 hours over a four-dayweek;
Balance between family and working life as apre-condition
for allows
a demographic
restorationof to• Job
sharing: thistwo or moreworkers
share one full-time position;
the society• Homeworking or teleworking: this permits
workers to balance their work and homecommitments and cuts out the difficulties
associated with commuting;

9• Childcare support: the provision of childcare
centres is crucial for working parents;
Balance between family and working life as apre-condition for a demographic restoration of• Term-time working:thisis potentially very useful
thesociety

for parents who cannot find adequate childcare
during school holidays;• Annualised hours schemes.

10European Employment Strategy– Main Stages
1. Working time, new forms of workorganisation
2. Parental leave
3. Day-care of children
4. Pregnant workers
5. Reconciliation of work and family life
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1. Working time, new forms ofwork organisation• Council Directive 93/104/EC on the organisationof working time
• Atypical employment, in the mid-1990s, as anopportunity to create new employment• Framework agreement and EC directive on parttime work (1997)• Framework agreement on fixed-term
employment contracts (1999)
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• Extension of working time directive (2000)• Recentsocialdialogue
Balanceinter-sectoral
between family
and working
life onas anew
formsofworkandspecificallyon
pre-condition for a demographic restoration ofteleworking
the society• Teleworking agreement (2002)• Temporary agency work (2002)• Working time directives: Directives
93/104/EC and 2000/34/EC
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2. Parental leave• EU parental leave agreement anddirective
The directive on equal treatment for menand women, amending the 1976 directive,
was adopted in 2002 and includes,
among other provisions, employment
safeguards for new parents of either sex
who are seeking leave to look after infants.
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3. Day-care of children
EU childcare policy• Lisbon Strategy, Barcelona Targets (2002): by2010, Member States should provide childcare
to at least 90% of children between three years
old and the mandatory school age, and to atleast 33% of children under three years of age• Only some countries achieved, e.g. Sweeden• New Lisbon Strategy aims at 90% under 3 yearsof age, 100% before school age• No provision for after school care, holidays,weekends
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4. Pregnant workers• Council Directive (92/85/EEC) on the introductionof measures to encourage improvements in thesafety and health at work of pregnant workers andworkers who have recently given birth or arebreastfeeding• The new directive is under discussion in the EU
Parliament due to the recomendation of ILO on
extension of maternity leave from 14 weeks up to…
(18, 20, 24 weeks?)• 24 weeks suggested by social partners andEuropean Social Platform according to WHO
recommendations on exclusive breastfeeding in
the first 6 month of life.
165. Reconciliation of work andfamily life
• It was one of the main issues under thePortugeese Presidency (in 2000)• As a follow-up of Beijing+5 (1995 UN World
Conference on Women in Beijing) the French
Presidency developed a set of indicators onreconciliation, like flexible working schemes,parental and other forms of leave, careservices opening hours etc.
17European Council Guidelines for
Member States• design, implement and promote familyfriendly policies, including affordable,accessible and high-quality care
• services for children and other dependants,
as well as parental and other leave schemes;18• consider setting a national target, inaccordance with their national situation, forincreasing the availability of care services
for children and other dependants;• give specific attention to women and men
considering a return to the paid workforce
after an absence and, to that end,
• they will examine the means of graduallyeliminating the obstacles to such return.
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Retirement and working longer…
• Working longer… retiring later…
• Working after retirement• Burden on older people to take care ofgrandchildren and, or ill or disabled family
members• Active ageing

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EESC Opinions Related to thisTopic• The role of the social partners in reconcilingworking, family and private life (2007)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?id
entifier=ces¥soc¥soc271¥ces998-2007_ac.doc&language=EN]• Promoting solidarity between the generations(2007)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?id
entifier=ces¥soc¥soc277¥ces1711-2007_ac.doc&language=EN]
21• Pay gap between women and men (2008)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?iden
tifier=ces¥soc¥soc284¥ces768-2008_ac.doc&language=EN]• Promoting the safety and health at work ofpregnant workers and workers who haverecently given birth or are breastfeeding(2009)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?iden
tifier=ces¥soc¥soc329¥ces882-2009_ac.doc&language=EN]22

• Early childhood care and education (2010)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?id
entifier=ces¥soc¥soc358¥ces102-2010_ac.doc&language=EN]• The roadmap for equality between womenand men (2006-2010) and follow-up
strategy (2010)[http://eescopinions.eesc.europa.eu/EESCopinionDocument.aspx?id
entifier=ces¥soc¥soc350¥ces448-2010_ac.doc&language=EN]

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THANK YOU FOR YOURATTENTION!

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