The new goal requires at least 50 per cent of people aged over 55 years in the EU to be employed in 2010. The figure today is 38 per cent. A new sub-goal was set for the employment rate by 2005, by which time 67 per cent of people of working age in the EU are to be employed. For women, the goal is for 57 per cent to be employed in 2005. Common standards are to be established by 2002 to enable access to childcare to be compared in EU countries.
Similar standards are also to be set up for care of the elderly.
The informal meeting of ministers in Lule paved the way for the decision by heads of state and government for quality in work to be improved, through such measures as better working environments and organisations, greater access to continuing professional development, strengthened gender equality and better opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in working life. One of the major barriers to increased growth and employment is the lack of qualified labour, not least in the ICT sector. The heads of state and government agreed in Stockholm to establish a high-level group for increased skills and mobility, with representatives from the business sector, the parties to the labour market and experts on the labour market and education. This group will have the task of discussing and finding solutions for this problem. Participation in working life by disabled people is to be promoted.