22. 12. 86 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 328/15 
Opinion on social developments in the Community in 1985 
(86/C 328/08) 
On 23 June 1986 the Commission decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee 
on social developments in the Community in 1985. 
The Economic and Social Committee decided to appoint Mr De Bruyn as rapporteur-general 
with the task of preparing its work on the subject. 
At its 239th plenary session (meeting of 17 September 1986), the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following opinion by a majority vote in favour and two votes against, 
with 15 abstentions: 
1. General background 
1.1. The Committee notes that in 1985 the Com­
munity's economic indicators were positive: the growth 
rate was 1 % up on the previous year's figure; Gross 
Domestic Product (GDP) was 2,2% higher than in 1984; 
the average rate of inflation was 5,2 %, one percentage 
point less than in 1984. Productivity and profit margins 
improved somewhat. The Committee also notes that 
investments were 2,2 % up in the two-year period 1983 
to 1985, thus recouping the drop registered in the pre­
vious two years and bringing them virtually up to the 
level of 1980, i.e. 15 % below that of 1974(*). 
1.2. On the social front, in the Community as a 
whole, wages rose less than average inflation. But 
unemployment continued to rise. In 1985 more than 13 
million people (i.e. 11,1% of the working population) 
were unemployed in the Community of Ten. Following 
enlargement this figure rose to 16 million (12%). The 
progress represented by 200 000 new jobs created, con­
tributing to an increase of 0,4% in the overall figure 
for people in work, is clearly inadequate. 
1.3. As regards social expenditure, the Committee 
would refer back to its comments in the 1983 opinion; 
the updated figures published by the Commission for 
1986 corroborate the fact that social-spending rates are 
not keeping pace with the growth of GDP. Moreover, 
according to the Commission's forecasts, it is conceiv­
able that social spending will actually be cut in real 
terms. There is an unfortunate tendency for most Mem­
ber States to reduce social welfare measures or increase 
employers' and workers' contributions in order to ease 
the financial strain on their social security systems. 
1.3.1. Under these circumstances, divergent trends 
and social policies in the individual Member States are 
(J) Source: EEC Commission and OECD; see also opinion ESC 
on the economic situation in the European Community. exacerbating inequalities in income. Poverty and social 
conflict are on the increase. Destructive flare-ups and 
attempts to destabilize society by means of violence and 
delinquency are making a reappearance, along with 
racism and xenophobia. 
2. The impact of unemployment 
2.1. The uneven distribution of unemployment 
2.1.1. Wherever it occurs, the costs of unemployment 
are high, in personal as well as social and economic 
terms (2). The Committee notes, however, that global 
figures on the level of unemployment can all too easily 
mask its disproportionate and aberrant impact on par­
ticular areas and particular groups such as migrant 
workers (3). The Committee believes that policies to 
tackle unemployment must take proper account of the 
varying needs of different regions and groups. 
2.2. Regional distribution of unemployement 
2.2.1. The uneven geographical spread of unemploy­
ment is well documented and need not be repeated 
here. But is should not be forgotten that the level of 
unemployment can vary greatly within regions. The 
problem of unemployment is particularly acute in some 
large cities where the decay of the industrial and social 
fabric has led to a process of social decline and the 
creation of economically moribund zones living increas­
ingly on the margin of society. This has brought in its 
wake a rise in civil disorder, often with alarming racial 
overtones. Nor must the high rate of unemployment in 
some of the rural areas of the Community be forgotten. 
(2) OJ No C 286, 24. 10. 1983, see ESC opinion on social 
developments in the Community in 1982. 
(3) OJ No C 343, 25. 12 1984, see ESC opinion on migrant 
workers. 
No C 328/16 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 12. 86 
2.3. Youth unemployment 
2.3.1. The official rate of unemployment (established 
on the basis of figures supplied by the Member States 
according to different criteria) for the under-25s in 
the Community as a whole is still worrying (37,1 % 
compared with 38,3% in 1984). This situation must 
spur all the Member States and the Community as a 
whole into promoting further measures to tackle the 
problem (2), given that 4,8 million young people in the 
pre-1986 Community were without a job. The challenge 
is all the greater with the accession of Spain and Portu­
gal which adds more than 1,5 million to this figure. 
2.3.2. The Committee notes with concern that in 
addition to the young people with qualifications and 
training who are finding it hard to get a job, there 
are a great many youngsters who possess neither the 
qualifications nor the vocational training required to 
compete on the labour market. 
2.3.3. The Committee welcomes the Decision of the 
Council of Ministers of 17 October 1983 whereby, with 
effect from 1984, 75% of available European Social 
Fund resources are to be allocated to promoting 
employment opportunities for those aged under 25. One 
of the effects of this is that in a number of Member 
States additional measures are being taken to provide 
young people with opportunities for gaining work 
experience, thereby enhancing their future employment 
prospects. The Committee therefore welcomes the 
review of such measures undertaken by the Com­
mission; this will help build up a valuable data base 
and encourage the exchange of information and experi­
ence and the adoption throughout the Community of 
those schemes which are considered to be effective. It 
urges the Commission to follow up this review with a 
resolution adapting the 1984 resolution (2) with a view 
to concerted action. 
2.3.4. In this context the Committee notes that a 
number of Community initiatives in the social sector 
might produce more substantial results if they were 
based on an up-to-date analysis of trends in the individ­
ual Member States, drawn up in conjunction with the 
social partners. Accordingly the Committee feels that a 
system of collecting such information could usefully be 
established. 
2.4. Women and unemployment 
2.4.1. The Committee notes that the unemployment 
rate among women had risen to 12,1 % in December 
1985, compared with 11,7% in December 1984. This is 
due in particular to the increasing number of women 
registering for work in many of the Member States. 
Women, however, account for only 37% of the total 
number of people employed throughout the EEC, com-
(J) OJ No C 211, 8. 8. 1983, see ESC opinion on youth employ­
ment. 
(2) OJ No G 29, 4. 2. 1984, Council resolution of 23 January 
1984 on the promotion of employment for young people. pared with 43 % in the USA for instance. As the Com­
mittee recently stated: 
'This is why positive action for women is needed at 
Community level. Such positive action, in the con­
text of worsening female unemployment, needs to 
be activated in an integral rather than unilateral 
way. An overall data-based assessment of women's 
position on the labour market, linked to a carefully 
indiscriminate jobs creation policy which would 
objectively incite better female activity rates, ought 
to be seriously attempted' (3). 
2.5. Unemployment and the disabled 
2.5.1. The handicapped constitute approximately 
10 % of the population of the Community and therefore 
represent a potentially significant pool of productive 
talent. In some Member States the disabled have experi­
enced the effects of the world recession more severely 
than other disadvantaged groups. Further measures 
aimed at the social and economic integration of the 
physically and mentally handicapped need to be 
taken (4). 
2.6. Unemployment and older people 
2.6.1. The Committee notes the difficulties experi­
enced by older workers in re-entering the labour market 
after they have lost their jobs and the impact this has 
not only on the overall level of unemployment, but also 
on their family and social life. The Committee believes 
that consideration should be given to the ways in which 
the skills and knowledge of such workers can be used 
more effectively and geared to current needs, thus 
enhancing their employment prospects. 
2.7. Social security 
2.7.1. The Committee notes that proposals for tailor­
ing social security to changed economic, sociological 
and demographic needs are under active consideration 
in a number of Member States, taking into account the 
current budgetary constraints resulting largely from 
unemployment. 
2.7.2. In this connection the Committee would point 
out that the underlying basis of social security is soli­
darity. This is reflected in the system of contributions 
and may also be reflected in the tax system. Accord­
ingly, some Member States have a system whereby 
(3) OJ No C 189,28. 7. 1986, ESC opinion on equal opportunities 
for women — Medium-Term Community Programme — 
1986 to 1990. 
(4) OJ No C 189, 28. 7. 1986, ESC opinion on the employment 
of disabled people. 
22. 12. 86 Official Journal of the 
social security contributions are earnings-related, while 
benefits are calculated on the basis of an earnings 
ceiling. Persons wishing to secure additional benefits 
may do so, either by joining a mutual benefit society 
or an insurance scheme. Nevertheless, the Committee 
believes that it is essential to maintain collective 
responsibility for the more vulnerable groups in our 
society as this is a fundamental aspect of solidarity. 
2.7.3. At all events, as the Committee has already 
noted, social protection should not automatically be 
considered solely as a burden on the economy. It may 
also be a precondition for maintaining a high level of 
skills, efficiency and motivation in the economic life of 
Europe. Furthermore, the amounts levied do not drop 
out of the economic circuit; they are reintroduced in 
the form of benefits which play an important role in 
maintaining economic activity and thus preventing an 
even greater decline (1). 
3. Unemployment: the most urgent problem 
3.1. Faced with the need for the Community to 
accord genuine priority to unemployment, the necessary 
guidelines and conditions must be established for the 
drawing up and implementation of an overall strategy 
based on the interdependence of economic and social 
policy. 
3.1.1. With over 13 million people out of work in 
the Community in 1985, the problem of unemployment 
clearly has priority. The solution resides inter alia in 
creating opportunities for economic growth and 
improving firms' competitiveness. It is patent, however, 
that market forces alone cannot generate enough 
growth to significantly influence the job situation. 
3.2. The task in hand is to get the right quality 
of growth, making the necessary policy decisions and 
regulating the pace of economic growth to ensure that 
the labour market will benefit to the maximum. 
3.2.1. It is, after all, political decisions which deter­
mine the balance struck between monetary policy and 
investment credit policy; between public spending 
(including spending on social security) and public 
investment on the one hand and tax policy on the other; 
between taxation and the need to safeguard firms' 
competitiveness and workers' purchasing power; 
between the quality of supply and demand on the labour 
t1) OJ No C 343, 23. 12. 1984, p. 29, ESC opinion on current 
social security problems in the countries of the EEC. European Communities No C 328/17 
market; between productivity and the reorganization 
of working hours; between the different types of 
R&D and the impact on production and services. 
3.2.2. Looking ahead to the completion of the 
internal market, which will cover both supply and 
demand, the Committee would reiterate that, if we 
are to ensure a fair distribution between income from 
capital and income from labour, we must adopt policies 
which give due weight to social considerations and have 
a Community dimension. 
4. Social policy and a Community strategy to combat 
unemployment 
4.1. The role of EEC social policy 
AAA. With reference to its three opinions of recent 
years (2), the Committee would once more stress the 
interdependence of economic and social policy, and in 
particular the need to preserve social cohesion and 
solidarity as essential elements in the kind of substained 
economic growth which can create jobs and construc­
tively reduce the inequalities in living conditions. 
4.1.2. Technological change, improving firms' com­
petitiveness and performance, completing the internal 
market, budgetary problems, tax and wage questions, 
the use of profits for job-creating investments, the adapt­
ability of the labour market, the reorganization of 
work, training and retaining — all these questions are 
involved in a strategy for employment and all must be 
set in a social framework and ethic so as to ensure a 
flexible approach, based on a consensus, and hence 
effective. In line with this overall approach, two years 
ago the Council expressed itself in favour of 'gradually 
promoting a European social area' and stated that: 
'The Community will not be able to strengthen 
its economic cohesion in the face of international 
competition if it does not strengthen its social 
cohesion at the same time. Social policy must there­
fore be developed at Community level on the same 
basis as economic, monetary and industrial policy 
(...). The Community must help to strengthen the 
links between economic and social policies so as to 
boost its competitiveness and its solidarity vis-a-vis 
the outside world. The success of a proper economic 
policy is an essential requirement for the implemen­
tation of an adequate social policy. An effective 
(2) OJ No C 286, 24. 10. 1983, OJ No 307, 9. 11. 1984 and OJ 
No C 218, 29. 8. 1985, the opinions on social developments 
in the Community in 1982, 1983 and 1984. 
No C 328/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 22. 12. 86 
social policy is a necessary support for economic 
policy. The changes necessitated by technological 
change should be backed up by a policy of education 
and vocational training, a labour-market policy and 
a social policy, with a view to allowing and encour­
aging rapid and successful adjustment'^). 
The Committee fully endorses this statement and urges 
that it be rapidly reflected in Community policy. 
4.2. Community isntruments 
The principal means whereby the Community can pro­
mote such a social policy are: 
— legislation and action programmes, 
— the structural funds, 
— social dialogue. 
4.2.1. Community legislation in the social field made 
no significant advances in 1985: the proposed directive 
on the consultation of employees is still blocked at the 
Council, as are other Directives on part-time work, 
parental leave, etc. So too is the 'recommendation' on 
the reorganization and reduction of working hours 
which, through collective bargaining procedures at vari­
ous levels, can stimulate employment without neces­
sarily increasing unit costs. 
4.2.1.1. Similarly, the important ideas expressed at 
the meeting of the Standing Committee for Employment 
in May 1985 have not been implemented, while the 
Commission's 1986 Programme shows no sign of an 
overall strategy based on such guidelines. 
4.2.1.2. Although the Commission Programme pos­
tulates that the creation of a European economic and 
social area goes hand in glove with the harmonization 
of living and working conditions, with health and safety 
standards at work and with vocational training oppor­
tunities, it fails to suggest ways of aligning social secur­
ity measures and instruments which, in the individual 
Member States, are an integral part of the economic 
system in general. 
4.2.1.3. The Committee would also point out that 
in its Programme, after restating the basic principles, 
the Commission proceeds to formulate its employment 
proposals along traditional lines. The proposed 
measures to rationalize use of the structural funds are 
(!) OJ No C 175, 4. 7. 1984, p. 1, conclusions of the Council of 
22 June 1984 concerning a medium-term Community social 
action programme. c totally vague, whereas, if only because of the Com-
1 munity's enlargement, urgent re-adjustments and 
i increased resources are called for. 
4.2.1.4. The Committee is fully aware of the practi­
cal difficulties facing the Commission — whilst there 
is often a broad consensus amongst the Member States 
as to general principles, they are at odds when it comes 
to their specific application. 
4.2.2. The Committee has issued opinions on the 
revision of the main structural Funds, stressing that 
Community aid cannot be made more effective simply 
by reallocating present, inadequate resources (2). 
4.2.2.1. The Social Fund can be seen to be a key 
element of the strategy to secure institutional change 
whereby the educational and training systems can 
respond more positively to the needs of business for a 
more highly skilled and flexible workforce capable of 
adapting to technological change. The Committee notes 
the improvement in training opportunities for young 
people, in many cases leading to more secure employ­
ment, as a result of Social Fund policy. It approves the 
new guidelines for the Fund to give priority to training 
programmes linked with the introduction of new tech­
nology. In this connection it has also approved Com­
munity programmes such as COMETT, which is aimed 
at promoting cooperation between universities and 
industry on advanced training in the new technologies. 
The Committee would reiterate its request for a more 
substantial allocation to be made to the European Social 
Fund from the Community budget. 
4.2.2.2. The Committee thinks that, in addition to 
restructuring existing Community Funds, and without 
reducing the resources of these Funds, consideration 
should be given to setting up a new Community 
Employment Fund for cooperation in the field of 
growth and employment. Its brief would be to help 
control and humanize the implications of the modern­
ization of firms and to promote major infrastructure 
projects. 
4.2.2.3. The Committee calls on the Commission, 
together with the European Investment Bank, to con­
sider the feasibility of setting up such an EEC-wide 
Employment Fund, based on new facilities for job-
creating investment credit, for SMEs in particular. 
4.2.3. As far as the dialogue between the two sides of 
industry in the Community is concerned, the Committee 
(2) OJ No C 124, 9. 5. 1983, ESC opinions on social develop­
ments, op. cit.; and on the revision of the European Social 
Fund. 
22. 12. 86 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 328/19 
notes that the Council considers that carrying out a 
Community social policy and Community industrial 
strategies implies the continuation and development 
of the dialogue between the two sides of industry at 
Community level (x). 
4.2.3.1. The Committee attaches great importance 
to the dialogue between the two sides of industry, but 
feels that satisfactory progress cannot be made without 
the appropriate commitment and legal instruments. 
4.2.3.2. The Community initiatives in the social sec­
tor as described in the Commission Programme (exten­
sion of the second programme on poverty, action pro­
gramme to promote the social integration of the dis­
abled, local employment initiatives, health and safety, 
policy on migrant workers) could be better developed 
and produce more substantial results if they were based 
on a up-to-date analysis of trends in the individual 
Member States, produced in conjunction with the social 
partners. 
i1) OJ No C 175, 4. 7. 1984, op. cit., p. 3. 
Done at Brussels, 17 September 1986. 4.2.3.3. Therefore, the Committee feels that there is 
an urgent need to set up a system for collecting infor­
mation for the 'communications' (provided for in the 
Commission Programme) on living and working con­
ditions, labour-market surveys and medium-term cost-
benefit forecasts in the social sector. The Committee 
would also reiterate its call for the harmonization of 
social statistics particularly those on unemployment. 
5. Conclusions 
5.1. Community measures in the social field and the 
dialogue between the social partners are unlikely to 
have any real impact unless they form part of an overall, 
phased strategy for achieving the Community's main 
objectives. 
5.2. The Community was established to bring the 
people of Europe together so that they could join forces 
in working for a common future. This basic aim was 
confirmed and given new vigour in the recent Single 
European Act. This revitalization must be encouraged 
so that a genuine European political, social and econ­
omic union can be created with a better chance of 
resolving the major international problems currently 
disrupting the social and economic life of the whole 
Community. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR