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COM (83) 148 
 
 
Vol. 1983/ 0043 
  
 
Disclaimer  
Conformém ent au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 
concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique 
européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, 
p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 
(JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents 
classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit 
règlem ent. 
In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 
concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Econom ic 
Communit y and the European Atom ic Energy Communit y (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as 
amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 
27.9.2003, p. 1), t his file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this 
file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation.  
In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februa r 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen  
Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgem einschaft (ABI. L 43 vom  15.2.1983,  
S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. Septem ber 2003  
(ABI. L 243 v om 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit  
erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5  
der genannten Verordnung freigegeben.  
COMMISSION OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 
COM(83) 148 final 
Brussels,  14th March 1983 
COPING WITH THE SHORTAGE OF  JOBS IN THE  1980's 
(Communication  from the Commission  to the  European  Council, 
21/22 March 1983) 
COM(83) 148 final 

COPING WITH THE SHORTAGE  OF JOBS IN THE 1980s 
Even optimistic forecasts do not envisage any  significant 
reduction in  unemployment  for a number  of years. The  normal 
functioning  of the labour  market  has been disrupted and there has 
in particular  been a sharp drop in the turnover of jobs,  making 
access or re-entry to the labour  market  increasingly  difficult. 
In response  to these  problems,  Member  States are increasingly 
extending and strengthening  their  specific  actions in the  employ­
ment field. These  aim to provide a  more immediate  response  than 
can result  from macro-economic  policies  alone and to assure respect 
for the principles of  social  equity. To be effective and to avoid 
resulting  in the export of  employment  problems  from one Member  State 
to another, these actions  need to form a part of a coherent  approach  at 
the Community  level.  This should pay particular attention to the 
risks - not only for individuals but for the  economy  as a whole - of 
an increasing proportion of the active population  becoming  permanently 
detached  from the labour  market.  While  the maintenance  of adequate 
income support for those who are out of  work or who have permanently 
left the labour force  remains  an economic  and social  necessity, there 
should be a greater  emphasis  on their employment  needs. 
The following  paragraphs  consider two  specific  issues to  which 
the European  Council has accorded high  priority,  most recently on 
3/4 December,  namely  the contribution that the reduction and 
reorganisation of  working  time can make to providing access to 
employment  for more people, and the  employment  problems  of young 
people.  Policies  on these issues  find their place in the overall 
approach.  Other  policies  under preparation in the  Commission  will 
concentrate on the one  hand on measures  designed to stimulate the 
creation  of new employment  (especially in small and  medium-sized 
enterprises,  through  local employment  initiatives,  under  collective 
management  and within voluntary organisations as well as in the 
public sector); and on the other  hand on the means  of promoting 
./. 

2. 
the interests  of certain  vulnerable groups  (including  not only 
young people, but  also the long-term  unemployed,  women,  minority 
groups, the handicapped and workers in  declining  urban  areas). 
Reduction and  reorganisation  of working time 
Measures  to adjust working time and thus achieve a  more equit­
able distribution  of available  work are increasingly  under  discussion 
as a possible  means  of combatting  structural  unemployment.  Apart from 
developments which are  taking  place spontaneously at the  level of the 
social partners, a  number  of Member  States  have introduced such  measures 
or have announced  plans to do so. The  main thrust  of these is to reduce 
individual  working time -  whether  calculated  on a weekly,  yearly  or 
lifetime  basis  - while at the  same time encouraging, or  even obliging 
employers to  recruit  additional  workers.  Certain  governments  have 
used public  funds to  meet the short-term costs of these adjustments 
or provide  added  incentives. 
Memorandum  on the Reduction and Reorganisation of Working  Time 
C0M(82)809  of 10 December  1982, paragraph 19. The Commission  has already expressed the view  that  "the 
Community  should  explicitly  support and  actively  promote  the combined 
reduction  and reorganisation  of working time as an instrument of 
economic  and social  policy".  The Joint  Council of 16  November  agreed 
with the Commission  that the aim of  increasing  employment  opportunities 
on a durable  basis through adjustments to working time was  realisable. 
In its discussions  with the  social  partners and its preparation 
of more specific  proposals, which it  will present to the Council before 
June, the  Commission  is giving  particular  attention  to the  following 
points: 
It is necessary to avoid  increasing  the production costs of 
enterprises  and thus  damaging  their  competitivity  and their 
future capacity  to offer employment.  In this context, it is 
important  that reductions in  individual  working time,  allowing 
work to be shared  among more workers, are  where  necessary  combined 
with measures  of reorganisation  which  contribute  to improved 
productivity  and a more efficient  use of  capital  equipment. 

3. 
The redistribution  of available  work requires mobility and 
flexibility.  Among  other necessary supporting  measures,  a 
greater  effort  is required to provide a workforce trained 
in the range of  skills  which the labour  market  is demanding, 
especially  in the area of the new technologies.  Moreover, 
measures  - statutory or otherwise - which  have the effect  of 
discouraging  recruitment or creating unnecessary  rigidities  in 
the way work is organised  need urgently to be reviewed and 
where necessary  changed. 
- Not all types of  activity  nor all  sizes of enterprises lend 
themselves equally  well to achieving increases in the workforce 
through the reduction and reorganisation of working time. 
Measures  therefore  need to allow  room for differentiation  in 
their application  and should in any case provide for the  details 
to be negotiated at the appropriate  level between  the two sides 
of industry. As a very  major employer, the public sector can 
set an example  in this field. 
A recourse to  more overtime could completely  offset  the job-
creating  potential  of measures  to reduce working time. In 
order to prevent  this,  limitations  on overtime are required, 
possibly  on a statutory basis at national  level. 
Discussion  and an  exchange  of experience at the  Community  level 
can stimulate the debate and aid the  development  of effective  policies; 
in addition, the adoption of a  Community  policy  framework  can help to 
ensure the adoption of  more coherent and convergent  policies  across 
the Community  and to  allay anxieties  about possible  risks of competitive 
disadvantage,  especially  during the  phase of initial  adjustments. 
The proposals which the  Commission  is preparing,  building  on the basis 
established  in its  Memorandum,  will aim to provide such a  framework. 

4. 
Youth employment 
More than 4.5 million  young  people  under  25 are unemployed  in the 
Community  at present. This represents  40% of all  unemployed  workers, 
whereas  young workers  represent  less than 20% of the labour force. 
Thus the average  rate of  unemployment  for those  under  25 is over  20% 
compared  with 11% for those over  25. Changing  demographic  patterns 
will, in most Member  States, only  have an impact in the  1990s. 
The acute shortage of job vacancies  hits  first  and hardest those 
who have no firm foothold in the labour  market.  The recruitment of 
young people  which  in the past occurred as a  result  of the  normal 
turnover of  manpower  and through natural  wastage  has almost ceased. 
Insofar  as new recruitment  does take place, it has tended to be  limited 
to marginal or  temporary  positions  which do not provide  young  people 
with the opportunity to acquire  skills,  obtain  satisfaction  from their 
employment  or develop a  sense  of career. 
The long duration of periods of  unemployment  among young  people, 
many of whom have never  experienced stable  employment,  is causing 
particular  concern, not only  because  of the  immediate  hardships experienced 
and social  tensions aroused, but also  because  of the  economic  and man­
power problems  that  will emerge  in future  when today's generation of 
young people  form the core of the labour force. 
While the  problem  of youth  unemployment  must in the  first instance 
be tackled as a part of the general  problem  of unemployment,  the need for 
more specific  and immediate  measures  is clear.  As the  Commission  pointed 
out in its  Communication  to the  Joint  Council of  Economic  and Labour 
Ministers  in November  1982, and to the  European  Council in  December, 
urgent attention should be given to the creation of  employment  oppoi — 
tunities  specifically  for young  people. This  would complement  efforts 
already  being made in the education and  training  of young  people (on 
which the Commission  looks to the Council to  adopt  a resolution  in 
June, on the basis of its  communication  of September  1982) which  though 
they make an essential  contribution,  will not of themselves increase 
the supply of jobs  available. 

5. 
It is important for the  Community  as a whole to  make 
a broad  political  commitment  to achieve a  significant  reduction 
in the rate of youth  unemployment  within  the next couple of years 
and to consider how best all its  financial  instruments may be 
used to  this end. 
The Commission  will soon present a communication to the 
Council making recommendations concerning a whole range of  different 
measures, both temporary and  more lasting,  to increase the job  offers 
made to young people. This  will inter  alia establish  guidelines  for 
the efforts  of the  social  partners in  devising  ways to ensure  that 
positive  action  in favour of young people is taken  within  both the 
private  and public  sector,  particularly  in the context of recruitment 
policy and agreements on the reduction and  reorganisation  of working 
time. Public  authorities  also have a major  responsibility,  not only 
to set an example as employers, but  also through  legislation  and 
spending.  Certain  Member  States are  considering  or have already  begun 
to demonstrate a  specific  commitment  in this respect, for instance 
by developing the concept of a  limited  employment  guarantee to 
young people who  have been unemployed for long periods, by  special 
recruitment  provisions  for young people in the  public  service  or by 
using a new payroll  tax on employers to finance  job-creation  schemes. 
The Commission's proposals  will pay special  attention  to the  most 
disadvantaged  groups of young people who, even in a  more healthy economic 
situation,  suffer  from a  series  of handicaps in comparison with other 
young people.  These  may result  not only from a  lack of qualifications 
and work experience, but  also from sexual or  racial  prejudice  and from 
the impact of poverty and  social  distress  in the home or the  local 
community,  especially  in areas of severe  industrial  or urban  decline. 
Particular  priority  should be given to job  creation  measures  designed 
to benefit  such young people, who not only run a grave  risk of long-
term unemployment,  but who  also are frequently  deprived of any source 
of income support, whether from the  family  or the  collectivity. 

6. 
The Commission  sees the need for a  minimum  employment  guarantee, 
for instance  for a period of two years, which could  be offered  to 
all those young people who have  already  been unemployed for  more 
than twelve  months. For  those who have not yet  benefitted from 
a period  of training,  such as envisaged  by the Commission In its 
proposals  for a  social guarantee,  the offer of employment  should 
Include appropriate  training  provisions. 
The proposals  for the Review of the  Social Fund would enhance the rol 
of the Fund in  support  of action taken  by Member  States 
to increase  employment  opportunities  for young  people.  It will 
nevertheless  be necessary  for the Fund's  resources  to be Increased 
in a way which is commensurate  with the demands  placed upon it, 
1f 1t is to  make a full contribution  to concerted  efforts  to bring 
down the overall  rate of youth unemployment  throughout  the Community.