J. A. COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 24.07.1996 
COM(96) 389 final 
GREEN PAPER 
LIVING AND WORKING 
IN THE 
INFORMATION SOCffiTY: 
PEOPLE FIRST 

Contents 
1. People first in the Information Society - executive summary 
2. Why a Green Paper? - invitation to a political, social and civil dialogue 
3. Working in the Information Society 
3.1. The concerns: skill revolution and job insecurity 
3.2. The facts: a new world of work 
3.3. The first challenge: to build knowledge and raise awareness of new forms of work 
organisation 
3.4. The second challenge: to ensure that SMEs take full advantage the IS 
3.5. The third challenge: to modernise the institutions of working life 
3.6. A new concept for security 
3.7. A new culture of anticipation 
3.8. Questions for further reflection 
4. Employment in the Information Society 
4.1. The concerns: jobless growth and the end of work? 
4.2 The facts: steady employment growth since 1960 
4.3. The first challenge: prevent beggar-thy-neighbour policies 
4.4. The second challenge : more effective management of the job transformation process 
4.5. The third challenge: to overcome the skill gap 
4.6. Overhauling education and training to match the ICT-revolution 
4.7. The platform: the new priorities in the convergence programmes 
4.8. Questions for further reflection 
5. Cohesion: Living in the Information Society 
5.1. The concerns: concentration or cohesion? 
5.2. The facts: public policies make the difference 
5.3. The first challenge: to make the best of the new regulatory framework 
5.4. The second challenge: the human resource base 
5.5. The third challenge: empowerment and integration 
5.6. Consolidating progress 
5.7. Questions for further reflection 
6. The Information Society - the European way 
1. PEOPLE FIRST IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
1. We are living through a historic period of technological change, brought about by the 
development and the widening application of information and communication technologies 
(ICTs). This process is both different from, and faster than, anything we have seen before. It 
has a huge potential for wealth creation, higher standards of living and better services. 
2. ICTs are already an integral part of our daily life, providing us with useful tools and 
services in our homes, at our workplaces, everywhere. The Information Society is not a 
society far away in the future, but a reality in daily life. It is adding a new dimension to 
society as we know it, a dimension of growing importance.The production of goods as well 
as services is becoming more and more knowledge based. 
3. However, the speed of introduction of ICTs varies between countries, regions, sectors, 
industries and enterprises. The benefits, in the form of prosperity, and the costs, in the form 
of burden of change, are unevenly distributed between different parts of the Union and 
between citizens. Understandably, people are worried and demand answers to questions about 
the impact of ICTs. Their concerns can be summarised in two main questions: 
the first has to do with employment. Will these technologies not destroy more jobs 
than they create? Will people be able to adapt to the changes in the way we work? 
• the second question has to do with democracy and equality. Will the complexity and 
the cost of the new technologies not widen the gaps between industrialised and less 
developed areas, between the young and the old, between those in the know and those 
who are not? 
4. To meet these concerns we need public policies which can help us reap the benefits of 
technological progress, and which can ensure equitable access to the Information Society and 
a fair distribution of the potential for prosperity. This Green Paper aims to stimulate the 
debate on the development of the European Information Society, and focuses on the key issues 
of the organisation of work, employment and social cohesion. 
1.1. Working in the Information Society (Chapter 3) 
5. ICTs have led to an enormous reduction in the cost of storing and processing of 
information over the last 50 years. We are now witnessing a similar reduction in the cost of 
transmitting information. This is the beginning of the information distribution revolution. In 
this way ICTs are reshaping working life, the organisation of enterprises and the whole of 
society. Enterprises are being transformed away from hierarchical and complex organisations 
with simple jobs to more decentralised and network-oriented organisations with more complex 
jobs. The most successful enterprises are combining ICTs with education and training and 
with organisational transformation in an integrated approach. Fostering this approach presents 
a number of challenges. 
• a first challenge is to build knowledge and raise awareness of the potential of the new 
paradigm of work organisation to deliver both productivity growth and job satisfaction. 
1CL 
• a second challenge is to help SMEs, the job generators in the EU, maximise the 
potential of this change to become more competitive. 
• a third challenge is to modernise the contractual framework for working life to find 
ways and means to reconcile flexibility and security. 
1.2. Employment in the Information Society (Chapter 4) 
6. Europe has had steady but low employment growth for several decades. The introduction 
of ICTs does not seem to have changed the rate of job creation. If anything, growth has 
become slightly more, not less, job-intensive. The introduction of ICTs has huge effects on 
skill requirements and employment policy must become more focused on human resource 
investment. This is underlined by the already existing mismatch between skill supply and the 
demand for new skills - the two-speed labour market. 
what Europe needs is a substantial overhaul of education and training that can match 
the ICT revolution and keep pace with continuing technological development during 
the years to come. 
• the education system must be transformed from teaching to learning. Enterprises must 
offer more learning by doing. The unemployed must be offered retraining instead of 
long term unemployment and de-skilling. 
1.3. Cohesion: Living in the Information Society (Chapter 5) 
7. Strengthening economic and social cohesion remains a key objective of the Union. Progress 
towards convergence in income per head between Member States has been positive but slow, 
but disparities between regions within the same Member States have tended to widen over 
time. ICTs can play an important role in supporting regional and local development and 
promoting integration and empowerment, and the key issue is how to maximise the 
opportunities and minimise the risks of new ICTs for cohesion. 
• a first challenge is to ensure that the liberalisation of telecommunications proceeds 
fully and rapidly across the Union and that the new regulatory framework supports 
cohesion objectives. 
• a second challenge is to integrate more closely the Structural Funds and Information 
Society policies, so as to stimulate the access and use of modern ICTs. The process 
of stronger local involvement through local and regional employment pacts could be 
an important vehicle for a new, more employment intensive and human resource 
oriented cohesion policy. 
• a third challenge is to ensure that the Information Society becomes a tool to create 
an inclusive society. The Information Society should be about people and it should be 
used for people and by people to unlock the power of information, not to create 
inequalities between the information rich and the information poor. 
1.4. Guiding principles for the Information Society (Chapter 6) 
8. The way we develop the Information Society, the most fundamental change of our time, 
must reflect the ideas and values upon which the European Union is shaped. These ideas and 
values should be transparent in order to gain and deserve the broad support of European 
citizens. To this end the Commission invites all interested parties to reflect on the possibilities 
of formulating a set of common Community principles for the development of the European 
Information Society. 
2.WHY A GREEN PAPER? - INVITATION TO A POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND CIVIL DIALOGUE 
9. The importance of the Information Society (IS) as a positive force for change was 
highlighted in the Commission's 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and 
Employment1. This White Paper, together with the subsequent report "Europe and the Global 
Information Society", launched - with the full backing of the European Council - an important 
series of initiatives to help shape and promote the IS in Europe. 
10. The Commission's 1994 Action Plan "Europe's way to the Information Society"2 
presented an overview of the Commission's work programme on the Information Society and 
placed an important emphasis on social and societal questions. These issues were also 
highlighted in the Commission's European Confidence Pact for Employment3. This Green 
Paper is part of a package of initiatives being developed by the Commission to update and 
take forward the 1994 Action Plan. 
11. To meet the task of providing new insights into the social challenges of the Information 
Society, the Commission has sought advice from some of the most prominent experts in 
Europe on how to promote job creation, social solidarity, equality of opportunity and access 
and the preservation of Europe's cultural diversity in the Information Society. 
12. Two main groups were set up by the Commission. A High Level Group of Experts began 
its work in May 1995, and presented its preliminary report "Building the Information Society 
for us all" in February 1996. In parallel, the Commission created an Information Society 
Forum, which is broadly based and consists of 128 members. The Forum's first annual report 
was adopted in June 1996. The IS was also one of the four main topics of the First European 
Forum on Social Policy held in Brussels in March 1996. 
13. The reports of the High Level Group and of the Forum were designed to stimulate the 
debate about issues beyond those business and academic communities already familiar with 
them. They are available as complements to this Green Paper, and details of how to obtain 
full copies are at the end of this text. 
14. The Commission has decided to present a Green Paper in order to promote wide 
discussion and awareness of the social and societal issues involved. Only through active 
participation of a wide range of actors can our societies come to terms with the new 
challenges and choices with which we are confronted. 
15. The objective, therefore, is to invite comments on and discussion of the Green Paper, and 
of the two associated reports of the High Level Group and the Forum, during the remainder 
of 1996. This process will be launched in September, in collaboration with the Irish 
1 Supplement 6/93 Bull.EC 
2 Com (94) 347 of 19.07.94 
3 CSE (96) 1 of 5.6.96 
Presidency, at a European Colloquium in Dublin. In the light of the reactions received, the 
Commission will present action proposals in 1997. 
16. All Member States are engaged in one way or another in reviewing the social challenges 
of the emerging Information Society. The Green Paper raises issues which affect the 
responsibilities of governments and regional and local authorities, the social partners and civil 
society. Recognising fully the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission will examine the 
extent to which there would be added value from pooling of experience through demonstration 
projects or other initiatives, joint sponsorship of research, and systematic exchange of 
information, as a complementary and catalytic contribution to the policies and measures 
pursued within Member States. The Structural Funds have a key role to play in this process, 
in particular Objective 4 and the ADAPT-BIS Community Initiative. 
17. The Green Paper also complements a range of activities already underway in other areas 
of Commission work, notably the White Paper on Teaching and Learning4, which focuses on 
the skills and knowledge which will be necessary for people's full participation in the 
Information Society, as well as the forthcoming initiative "Learning in the Information 
Society". 
18. Within the framework of existing cooperation this Green Paper is intended to: 
deepen the political dialogue with the European Institutions and the Member States, 
notably on employment policies in the framework of the Essen process (the Single 
Report to the European Council in December 1996 and the development of the 
multiannual programmes 1997), 
focus the social dialogue between employers and unions on these issues and stimulate 
joint initiatives at a European level, 
stimulate civil dialogue notably with the NGOs, on the basis of the Conclusions of the 
European Social Policy Forum in March 1996. 
All concerned are invited to comment on the issues raised in this Green Paper. 
Com (95) 590 
3. WORKING IN THE INFORMATION SOCDETY 
3.1. The concerns: skill revolution and job insecurity 
19. During the last 20 years, we have witnessed an ICT revolution, more far-reaching than 
most of us could have anticipated. One of the main effects of new ICTs has been a dramatic 
reduction in the cost and time of storing, processing and transmitting information. Such 
dramatic changes in price relations have a fundamental effect on the way we organise the 
production and distribution of goods and services and, thereby, on work itself. These 
developments are reshaping work, skill structures and the organisation of enterprises. Through 
this, they are bringing fundamental change to the labour market, and to society as a whole. 
20. The resultant shifts in the structure of skills, work patterns, companies, and goods and 
services is bewildering, and makes very different and new demands on workers and 
employers. Static function-based skills, and traditional management models and techniques, 
are rendered inadequate and inflexible in a workplace which demands the opposite of workers 
and managers - the development of a new industrial and enterprise culture characterised by 
flexibility, trust, commitment and ability to anticipate and harness change. 
21. The rate of job destruction in the late 20th century is not so different from that resulting 
from the structural changes of the past. More problematic is the new nature of job destruction. 
The new pace of change, and the new modes of production it engenders, require broader 
based skills and new production processes to respond to constantly changing market demands. 
This raises great concerns in terms of job security, job content, skills obsolescence, and the 
relationship between working and living patterns. It also creates challenges for the Union 
objective of equality of opportunity and access. However, this does not mean that, in the 
future, only highly educated IT-literate workers will find a job. Traditional or manual jobs 
will remain, but their relative importance will decline. 
3.2. The facts: a new world of work 
22. Our economies are being transformed away from standardised manual production towards 
a more diversified, knowledge based, production of goods and services. This is why ICTs 
provide tremendous opportunities for improved productivity and real wages, and thereby for 
strong economic growth and new jobs. 
23. The technological revolution was, for a long time, not transformed into faster growth of 
productivity. At the same time, the slow growth of productivity led to a limited increase in 
real wages and low consumer expectations, which have an effect on the willingness of 
consumers to buy and of enterprises to invest and to create new jobs. The main reasons why 
ICTs have not led to increased productivity are now well documented: in the past, the 
introduction of new technologies has been hindered by a lack of adequate organisational 
transformation. 
24. Despite these problems, and despite occasional claims to the contrary, the EU economy 
and labour market systems are remarkably fluid. A Commission review of empirical research 
indicates an overall rate of enterprise creation and destruction in Europe of at least 10% a year 
and considerably higher in some sectors, with the average 'life' of a job of 4-5 years -
comparable to the U.S. 
25. Overall, this evidence suggests that, whatever problems there may be in ensuring the 
successful integration of ICTs, they are not related to a lack of flexibility in employment at 
the level of firms. During recent years we have seen a growing number of examples where 
the introduction of ICTs has met the highest expectations. The main message from these 
examples is the need for an integrated approach, linking the introduction of ICTs with 
education and training and with organisational transformation. 
26. The organisation of such successful "flexible enterprises" is becoming more and more 
based on processes, less and less on specialised functions. Workers perform a range of tasks, 
rather than pass the job on from one to another. Enterprises are being transformed from 
hierarchical and complex organisations with simple jobs, to less hierarchical, more 
decentralised and network-oriented organisations, with more complex jobs. The new flexible 
enterprise has been described as a fleet of small boats, moving on the same course, as opposed 
to an oil tanker steered from a central point. It is important to understand this change not as 
"A New Model" for work organisation, but as a process towards ever improving practices in 
work organisation. 
27. Europe has recognised this sea-change in organisation. We are not short on innovative 
ideas and we already have a relatively well trained workforce. Our weakness, as identified by 
the Commission's Green Paper on Innovation5, has been in combining technological and 
organisational innovation. High-quality, high-performance strategies require enterprise-level 
training, careful job design and rapid implementation of innovations. The Competitiveness 
Advisory Group chaired by Mr Ciampi has made a case study of new forms of work 
organisation. The findings of the Group confirm that these innovations in the organisation of 
enterprises lead to improved business performance, better job protection and job enrichment. 
3.3. The first challenge: to build knowledge and raise awareness of new forms of work 
organisation. 
28. The most important obstacle to this development is the lack of awareness of the new 
forms of work organisation and the potential of flexible organisation. Managers may also be 
rightly cautious about innovations which alter systems and procedures currently delivering an 
acceptable level of performance, compared to entering an unknown realm in which there is 
uncertainty about how to complete the process of change and how long it will take. There are 
no "turn-key" solutions. The very flexibility of the technologies means that they must be 
embedded in the social organisation of the workplace in order to achieve a competitive 
combination of productivity, performance and quality. The key question therefore is how to 
increase awareness of the potential of new approaches to organisation of work. 
29. It is essential to find the right balance between what has to be done at enterprise level and 
what could be done at national and European level. The key to success is enabling and 
supporting local initiatives, and the role of governments and European institutions is a 
Com (95)688 of 20.12.95 
catalytic one, one that encourages new initiatives. But the role of public authorities requires 
strong commitment and action at a number of levels. This involves an understanding of new 
forms of work organisation and their implications for public policy and for enterprise, and 
responding effectively across many fields, from economic development to trade policies, from 
research policies to skills development, and imbuing these responses with the values of 
equality of opportunity and access. 
3.4 The second challenge: to ensure that SMEs take full advantage of the IS 
30. The new concept of an integrated approach of ICTs, education and training and 
organisational transformation offers enormous potential for firms to become more competitive 
and to create better working conditions. It has particular advantages for SMEs, the key 
engines of employment growth - and especially "microfirms" - since the whole concept is built 
on the small unit, market-driven, decentralised and based on teamworking. 
31. The extent to which SMEs' job creation benefits from ICTs varies. For the more globally 
oriented SMEs, the IS offers important advantages. In some cases, the emergence of 
microbusinesses is directly linked to ICTs. In other cases, microbusinesses are just an 
extension of existing traditional consultancy and profession services. However, the constraints 
which SMEs face and their specific problems in accessing anticipation and training 
mechanisms justify priority attention. In this context, the prime concern should be to enable 
SMEs to act under their own responsibility as regards adaptation to the Information Society, 
and the tools and technologies of the Information Society will help them do this. The new 
Integrated Programme for SMEs6 recently presented by the Commission proposes to launch 
a pilot action to ascertain the priorities of SMEs and the obstacles hampering the use by 
SMEs of information technologies. 
3.5. The third challenge: to modernise the institutions of working life 
32. Alongside the question of raising awareness of the potential of new forms of 
organisation of work, we have to address the question of the modernisation of the institutions 
and the institutional framework of working life. The world of work needs to be organised in 
ways that support and facilitate positive developments, rather than making them more 
difficult. This also means improving the quality of skills and therefore of education and 
training, (see Chapter 4). 
33. It also means providing the right legal and contractual framework (labour law, collective 
agreements, industrial relations etc.) to allow firms and individuals more flexibility, while 
providing adequate security to workers. Member States' labour laws based upon the standard 
model of full time, workplace-based employment of indefinite duration, can no longer respond 
entirely to the needs of a more knowledge-based production of goods and services. 
34. New work organisation practices tends to blur the central element of the classic 
employment relationship: the notion of employer is becoming more complex (groups of 
Com (96) 329 
undertakings, joint ventures, networks, subcontractors); the location of work has diversified; 
working time practices have been individualised to respond to particular needs and 
requirements; time-based remunerations may in some cases be replaced by task-specific 
remunerations and the scope of workers' autonomy enlarged. In other words, wage 
employment and self-employment are tending to converge, rendering the scope of labour law 
unclear and reducing its effectiveness in certain fields (non-standard contracts, telework and 
where work is outsourced or externalised). 
Call Centres in Europe 
The type of work done by Europe's citizens is changing, with the information and 
service sectors the main source of new employment in the last decade. The way 
people work is also changing, with a strong growth in work relocation. For example, 
more than 6000 companies now have service "call centres" to provide information to 
customers. These already employ about 130,000 Europeans and are expected to 
generate another 100.000 jobs by 2000. These developments are fastest growing in 
Ireland, but the UK has 4000 call centres with revenues of 450 million ecu in 1996. 
In some of these centres the work is highly skilled and requires knowledge of several 
foreign languages. In others, it is more routine, but requires inter-personal skills and a 
willingness to work unsocial hours. 
3.6. A new concept for security 
35. It is important to have a well-informed debate on these basic conditions for the 
development of working life. However, the public debate on the institutions of working life 
is often confined to simplistic arguments on regulation or deregulation. The emerging 
Information Society requires a more sophisticated and fundamental debate on the institutional 
framework which can shape this new world of work. 
36. ICT integrated with education and training and with organisational transformation offers 
great potential to improve productivity and create good jobs with good wages and salaries. 
Public policies must be based on this understanding. However, it is necessary to shift the 
focus of the debate away from regulation-deregulation and towards more the fruitful 
perspective of a new balance between flexibility and security and the mutual benefits for 
enterprises and workers of a balance between the two elements. This is the new perspective 
that the Commission introduced in the consultation of the social partners on working time. 
37. This new balance between flexibility and security includes, on the one hand, the use of 
part-time work, temporary work, fixed term contracts, teleworking and new forms of 
employment relationship, where this is appropriate. On the other hand, it includes not only 
security against arbitrary dismissals and discrimination, but also the security which comes 
from increased involvement within the company and the possibility to develop skills and 
employability to the benefit of both company and employee. In this context, the question 
arises of how to provide the most efficient arrangements for workers' involvement in these 
matters. 
38. These are examples of necessary renewal. More fundamentally there is a need for a radical 
rethink of all the relevant systems - employment protection, working time, social protection 
and health and safety - to adapt them to a world of work which will be organised differently, 
in particular one where the boundaries between work and leisure, work and learning, 
employee and self-employed are, or may become, less well-defined. The concept of security 
for workers has to be developed and broadened, focusing more on security based on 
employability and the labour market rather than on the security of the individual workplace. 
It should be focused on security in change, not security against change. Within this it is 
important to have particular regard to issues of equality, and how to ensure that change 
enhances efforts toward both desegregation of the labour market and improved reconciliation 
of working and family life, for both women and men. 
39. In the light of these developments the Commission is preparing a Green Paper on work 
organisation and working time which will examine from an economic point of view the policy 
implications for the European Union and the Member States of changes in work organisation 
and working time, with a view to launching a debate, in particular with and between the 
Social Partners. 
40. The Commission will also present in the second half of 1996 a Communication on the 
impact of telework from the point of view of labour law, health and safety and social 
protection. The aim of the Communication will be to encourage Member States and the Social 
Partners to develop good practices and implement measures to improve the working conditions 
of teleworkers. 
41. ICTs also offer new opportunities in the field of health and safety at work. In particular, 
the application of new technologies can bring considerable added value to risk assessment 
activities, the collection, screening and dissemination of information, education and training 
in occupational safety and health, and for end users, particularly SMEs. The Fourth Health 
and Safety Action Programme (1996-2000)7 actively addresses questions regarding the impact 
of the IS on working and living conditions, and a conference on these issues will be held in 
Brussels on 13-15 November 1996. 
3.7. A new culture of anticipation 
42. The European Social Fund interventions under Objective 4, together with the related 
Community Initiative ADAPT, are aimed mainly at improving the management of human 
resources by anticipating the changes which the Information Society will bring, in particular 
by strengthening investment in human capital. Structural changes bring permanent changes 
in employment in terms of volume, structure, and qualifications. In particular, it is vital to 
develop a capacity for anticipation in enterprises which identifies and minimises the negative 
Com (95) 282 of 12.07.95 
10 
impact of these changes. This will also help tap new job opportunities through training which 
addresses new skill needs. 
43. The resulting adaptation needs are felt at both macroeconomic and company level. For 
this reason, one of the main objectives of the anticipation approach should be to enable 
companies to identify more readily their quantitative and qualitative needs as regards human 
resources in the context of a better understanding of overall change, thus enhancing the 
internal and external capacity for adaptation. 
3.8. Questions for further reflection 
44. Developments in the relationship between the new forms of organisation of work and the 
legal framework for work raise some fundamental questions to be discussed in the framework 
of the Social Dialogue and in the Essen employment process. 
• In seeking the right balance between flexibility and security, there is a need for 
both legislative activity at European and national level on the basic principles 
related to fundamental social rights, and for increased activity by the social 
partners to translate these rights into agreements and working practices at the 
workplace and in the labour market. Is the current distribution of regulatory 
powers between legislation and collective agreements the right one, or does a new 
balance have to be found? 
• In the past, many important issues concerning working life have been left to the 
State, such as employment, health and safety, family life implications, and the 
fight against exclusion. In this context should the scope of collective agreements 
be reviewed? The proliferation of new production structures may require new 
approaches to these issues. 
• As the legal status of workers changes more frequently (between wage 
employment and self-employment, between employment and learning, between 
professions and workplaces), how can a coordinated approach to labour law, 
social security and social protection be ensured in order to take account of these 
changes within a context of social justice and economic efficiency? 
In this context, it is also important to reflect upon: 
• how to promote best practice in terms of use of ICTs and job creation; 
• measures which help SMEs maximise the opportunities of the Information 
Society; and, 
• how to maximise the contribution of the Structural Funds to promoting best 
practice in using new technology and developing a new culture of anticipation. 
11 
4. EMPLOYMENT IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 
4.1. The concerns: Jobless growth and the end of work? 
45. The main economic, social and political problem in Europe is high and persistent 
unemployment. 18 million people are unemployed, half of them have been out of work for 
a year or more. There are at least 9 million more discouraged workers who would look for 
a job if they thought the work existed. 
46. This depressing situation has led to a debate on the "end of work" and of "jobless growth" 
linked to the effects of ICTs on working life. Several major studies have been undertaken by 
the ILO and OECD as well as by the EU during the last few years to gain a better 
understanding of the nature of the employment problem in Europe, focusing on specific issues 
such as the relationship between technology and employment, as well as the more general 
relationship between macro-economic and structural policies. 
47. The transition towards the Information Society is already taking place, and this will 
inevitably provoke significant changes in the living and working patterns of European citizens. 
The challenge is to shape the emerging Information Society so that we neither miss out in the 
global stakes nor weaken the solidarity of Europeans. There are three aspects that deserve 
special attention in this Green Paper: 
- the overall effect of ICT on employment 
- more effective management of the process of job transformation 
- the effect on labour markets in terms of supply and demand of skills and competencies 
4.2. The facts: steady employment growth since 1960 
48. It is well recognised that the EU has had, on average, a much lower rate of employment 
than the US and Japan over the past two decades - some 60% compared with 70% or more -
and that, in contrast to those countries, the EU's level of unemployment has remained 
stubbornly close to 10% over much of the last decade. 
49. However, it can also be observed that the rate of employment growth has remained almost 
unchanged over the last three-and-a-half decades across different areas of the developed world, 
albeit at different rates - at around 2 per cent in the USA, around 1 per cent in Japan and 0,3 
per cent in Europe. It is worth noting that the rate of employment growth has not significantly 
slowed since 1973, the year of the first oil shock and the starting point for the slowdown of 
economic growth. 
50. Hence far from reflecting a decline in the amount of work provided, the rise in European 
unemployment is largely related to the fact that employment growth (0,3 per cent on average 
per year) lagged behind labour force growth (0,6 per cent on average per year). The steadiness 
of employment growth over the whole period from 1960 to 1995 does not support the view 
that jobs are inexorably disappearing, only that employment failed to grow sufficiently to keep 
up with the growth in the labour force. 
51. Contrary to some claims that technical progress can only be labour saving, existing data 
suggest growth has become slightly more rather than less job-intensive, with the pace of job 
12 
creation remaining steady in the face of the sharply reduced rate of economic growth in the 
70s and 80s. The data also suggest that the relative capacities of American and European 
economies to create employment have not changed since 1973. Until then, annual growth of 
4,3 per cent was required for the economy to start creating employment in Europe, and 2 per 
cent was required in the United States. New jobs are now being created as soon as growth 
reaches 2 per cent, in Europe, and 0,6 per cent in the USA. 
52. This new growth and employment pattern is reflected in the slowdown in measured 
productivity growth after 1973. The rate of growth of productivity and GDP fell, even though 
more and more ICTs were introduced, while the growth in employment continued at much 
the same speed as before. Whatever the detailed explanation of this paradox - and debate and 
analysis continues - it is clear that the aggregate data do not support the thesis of "the end of 
work" or even the beginning of jobless growth. The more successful employment performance 
in the USA, Canada and Japan, cannot be explained by less use of labour saving ICTs. 
53. On the contrary, the development and introduction of ICTs has, in general, been more 
extensive in these countries - and particularly the US - than in the European countries. 
Moreover, within the EU the Member States which are more advanced in terms of ICTs also 
tend to have the highest employment rates. As with all technological change, the spread of 
ICTs is a growth factor, and there is a positive link between technological progress, 
productivity and economic growth which offers the potential for the growth of new forms of 
employment. Technological progress spurs innovation, thus creating the potential for new 
entrepreneurial opportunities, especially for SMEs. This higher growth potential must be 
exploited if unemployment is to be reduced and the European economies are not to fall behind 
in the global stakes. 
54. The main impact of ICTs in relation to employment is a radical restructuring of jobs and 
the world of work. Manufacturing industry has declined, but this decline has not been 
uniform. Within manufacturing, low-technology, low-skill and low-wage jobs have been shed. 
High-technology, high-skill and high-wage employment have expanded. 
55. The main source for employment growth is the service sector. Job gains are coming both 
from the dynamic part and from the more traditional part. Employment gains associated with 
new technologies have more than compensated for any labour displacement. In fact, 
employment growth in services has been faster in those countries which have invested most 
in the application of new technologies. 
56. So far, employment growth in the European core ICT industries has been quite flat, due 
to the downturn in the business cycle. But this hides quite heterogeneous developments. 
Employment in consumer electronics, data processing and telecommunications equipment 
manufacturing has clearly declined. Employment levels in the components industry and 
telecommunications services has remained stable. By contrast, employment in software and 
computer services has seen steady growth, almost tripling its size since 1980 and employing 
nowadays around 750,000 workers in the Union. This sector remains an area in which there 
are particularly high hopes for employment growth, especially in new high-skill, knowledge-
intensive services, such as multimedia software and end user training. 
57. Overall, these trends are expected to be maintained in the short-run, with the exception 
of telecommunication services, where expected jobs losses due to digitalization and 
13 
liberalisation will not be compensated by the new entrants' job creation in the short term. 
However, these trends do not take account of job creation in other areas related to the 
Information Society. Audiovisual services have shown a noticeable employment growth, with 
a 37% increase over the period 1983-1992, and the prospects are also good for further job 
growth. Additional ICT-related job creation has taken place in areas such as teleservices, 
telebanking, and retail distribution, but precise figures are difficult to trace statistically. The 
statistical observation of these new developments in the economy, and especially in the related 
service industries is a challenge for the statistical system. 
58. In addition, the positive employment effects of the Information Society are not expected 
to be concentrated only in the ICT and other IS sectors. Research undertaken by the 
Commission is showing that liberalisation of telecommunications combined with a rapid 
adoption of ICTs will lead to job creation and improved welfare in the rest of the economy. 
The boost of investment in new telecommunication and data processing equipment combined 
with the general price reductions and the real income increases resulting from the reductions 
in telecommunications tariffs will yield positive effects in terms of employment and value 
added in the rest of the economy in the medium and long term. These job gains will largely 
compensate for any job loss that could take place in the telecommunication sector. This 
mechanism applies not only to telecommunications but also to the diffusion of all ICTs. The 
problem, however, is in managing the time lag between these processes, and in helping 
individuals adapt to the new challenges and opportunities of the labour market. 
59. Though the longer term patterns of job creation in the Information Society are difficult 
to quantity, forecasts show that new jobs will be created in the whole economy, not only in 
the ICT industry and in new and emerging multimedia services, but also in all the other 
services and industrial sectors, including traditional and declining ones. There is a plethora 
of examples where the introduction and use of ICTs in enterprises has had substantial positive 
impact on employment. 
60. Over the period 1985-1994 employment in the services sector in the EU grew by some 
10 m. Although 80% of this overall growth in employment took place in the period 1985-
1990, the second half of the period still saw a growth of 2 m jobs in business, computers and 
research, the same increase as in the earlier period - with 0.6 m extra jobs in education, and 
0.9 m jobs in health and sanitation - all sectors where ICT has an important impact. The only 
significant area of service sector job loss in the 1990-1994 period was in wholesaling and 
retailing, where the decline in employment has been primarily due to lack of demand, not 
increased productivity. 
61. These new employment patterns are also affecting the gender balance of the labour 
market. The growth in the service sector has offered new opportunities for women entering 
the labour market. Employment for women has been increasing from the middle of the 1960s 
to the beginning of the 1990s. Women have increased their share in the work force, and a 
significant proportion of the new female jobs are part-time jobs. In contrast to the long run 
trend for female employment growth, employment for men has been decreasing ever since 
1965, except for some years in the end of the 80s. 
4.3. The first challenge: prevent beggar-thv-neighbour policies 
62. Across the labour market, one conclusion which must be drawn from past developments 
14 
is that weak employment growth in Europe, around 0.3 per cent a year, and concomitant high 
and persistent unemployment, must be explained by other factors than technological ones. 
Unemployment in Europe started to increase in the middle of the 1970s. Until 1985, a 
significant number of jobs were lost, at the same time as the labour force grew faster than 
ever. Ten million new jobs were created during the long growth period of the second half of 
the 80s. However, half of the new jobs were lost during 1992-93. 
63. A number of factors - including macroeconomic developments - played a role in the 
emergence and scale of unemployment. However, it is important to understand the structural 
aspects. The high level of unemployment is due to the lengthening of unemployment spells. 
Unemployment has been turned into long-term unemployment and social exclusion as a 
consequence of the passivity of labour market policies, offering mainly income support to the 
majority of the unemployed, but no new skills for a re-start in the new, more skill and 
qualification based labour market. 
64. With the Single Market, Europe is taking a great leap forward in the modernisation of the 
economy. It is not only a huge structural improvement. It also offers new conditions for 
growth and employment-oriented macroeconomic policies. Member States must make better 
use of the multiplier effect, as emphasised in the Commission's "Action for Employment in 
Europe- A Confidence Pact". It highlights the potential of the integration process. This 
potential has not yet been used to optimum effect. This is especially true in the fight for jobs. 
65. The high degree of European economic integration and interdependence has intensified. 
Consequently, sustained co-ordinated action gives more value added than the sum of 
individual, disparate, measures in each Member State. This approach will be addressed in the 
policy report being prepared at the request of the European Council in Florence, on the 
capacity of the European Union as an entity for employment policy. This involves replacing 
the zero-sum game of beggar-thy-neighbour policies with a plus-sum game of coordinated 
growth policy, creating confidence among consumers and investors. Such a growth-oriented 
policy would substantially improve the conditions for the development of jobs in the 
Information Society. 
4.4. The second challenge nnore effective management of the job transformation process 
66. Job destruction and job creation are an integral part of the process of structural change 
resulting from the introduction of ICTs. Enterprises can do much to absorb these shocks by 
the forward planning of employment requirements, and there are now many examples of 
imaginative policies negotiated between Social Partners. These involve not only education and 
training, as set out below, but also working time, wage moderation in order to maintain jobs, 
issues of equity in the process of change and compensating job creation in local and regional 
economies. 
67. In order to manage effectively the process of change, all economic and institutional actors 
- employers, workers, public authorities at all levels, education and training institutions and 
business support services - have to be involved. Forward looking enterprise behaviour needs 
in many cases to be externally supported and help for this process may come from the 
development of inter-firm cooperative agreements and partnerships as well as private-public 
partnerships to enhance local business support structures. This is particularly relevant for 
SMEs, which need to be supported and involved in networks to enhance their capacities to 
15 
innovate, define business strategies and anticipate their skill needs. The Structural Funds, and 
in particular Objective 4 and the ADAPT and SME Community Initiatives, can also be used 
to facilitate these changes (section 3.7 above). 
68. The bottom line is that if workers are to cooperate in the process of continuing change 
that the Information Society requires, new ways of handling the job transformation process 
have to be found. This is a responsibility both for governments and Social Partners 
4.5. The third challenge: to overcome the skill gap 
69. The ICT revolution plays an important role in the functioning of the labour market, 
through the reshaping of work, skill structures and the organisation of work. As the new 
technology is an information technology, it requires not only stronger basic skills in numeracy 
and literacy , but also a new form of basic skill, the skill of interaction with the new 
technology, let us call it "informacv". 
70. Technological developments and competition between enterprises are stimulating the speed 
of structural change. Each year, on average, more than 10 per cent of all jobs disappear and 
are replaced by different jobs in new processes, in new enterprises, generally requiring new, 
higher or broader skills. There is a much slower pace on the supply side in the acquisition of 
new skills. Each year, one age cohort, 2-3 per cent of the labour force, leaves working life 
because of age and other reasons, and a new one enters, with new education and training, with 
new skills. The high speed of transformation of enterprises, and the limited supply of new 
skills, leads to a severe mismatch, "a two-speed labour market", with the redundancy of old 
skills and bottlenecks for new skills. 
71. The real challenge for the transformation and upgrading of skills lies in the readaptation 
of those who are already in the labour force to the new requirements of the Information 
Society. However, many in the workforce have limited basic skills in numeracy and literacy, 
skills even more necessary in the Information Society, and a great number have no education 
and training in informacy. People with outdated or inadequate vocational training find it 
difficult to re-enter the workforce. Most training and retraining is organised for the young, 
not for people already in the workplace, or for those who have been working for 10, 20 or 
30 years and have lost their jobs. 
72. Most of them are offered only income support until a new job turns up, or while awaiting 
early retirement. But new jobs, demanding old skills, are not turning up. The new jobs require 
new skills. The gap will continue to grow, unless governments and employers embark upon 
a new, much more radical policy to provide people with new skills and competencies, linked 
to the development of new forms of work organisation and the introduction of new 
technologies. 
73. This poses a major challenge to governments and to the Social Partners, enterprises and 
workers, the scale of which can be illustrated by the forecasts of a continued high speed of 
technological renewal and an ageing population. Ten years on, 80 per cent of the technology 
we operate today will be obsolete, and replaced with new, more advanced technologies. By 
that time, 80 per cent of the workforce will be working on the basis of formal education and 
training more than 10 years old. Significant changes in the demographic profile serve only to 
highlight the scale of the challenge. The workforce is ageing, and the technology is getting 
16 
younger. 
4.6. Overhauling education and training to match the ICT-revolution 
74. What Europe needs is a substantial overhaul of education and training that can match the 
ICT revolution and keep pace with the continued ICT development during the years to come. 
We need a new interplay between work and training, instead of the old interplay between 
work and non-work, a new interplay which gives the individual the opportunity to develop 
skills and competencies and to grow in tune with the permanent revolution of skills that 
accompanies ICTs. 
75. In the long-term the underlying need is for Europe to develop a new architecture of life­
long education and training, involving all parts of education and training systems, including 
schools and designed and delivered in more appropriate ways, with particular regard to 
gender, but also by engaging more effectively older people and those with disabilities. This 
effort is now being initiated by the 1996 European Year of Lifelong Learning and the White 
Paper on Teaching and Learning. But the urgent need is to arrest the growing skill 
obsolescence of the adult working population through a pro-active approach to industrial 
adaptation and change. Speed and foresight are of the essence, because all the evidence points 
to a vicious downward spiral of job destruction, long-term unemployment and skill 
obsolescence which is harder to correct the longer it goes on. 
76. Four areas are of great importance in enhancing employability: 
- laying the best foundations: the foundations of our knowledge and skills are laid during 
the first years of education, and the processes involved will evolve as the IS develops. The 
quality and the organisation of pre-school and school education will be profoundly affected. 
Teachers and trainers in particular must be targeted, and the quality of their initial training 
and continuing professional development secured to exploit new ICTs. The programmes and 
infrastructure to link schools into the full networking potential of the IS, especially in the 
more remote regions where infrastructure is at risk, are of special importance. Member States, 
which have unambiguous responsibility for the organisation and content of school education, 
should continue to mount suitable programmes which take the IS into account and the EU can 
assist in supporting pooling of experience, particularly involving the less favoured regions. 
In addition, the European Council in Florence asked the Commission to quickly elaborate an 
action plan on "Learning in the Information Society", which will include the interconnection 
of school networks at European level, the promotion of multimedia educational content, and 
the stimulation of awareness and training of teachers and trainers to the use of new 
Information Society tools. 
- from teaching to learning: education and training must, according to the first annual report 
from the Information Society Forum, be swiftly reoriented so that learning institutions are 
much more responsive to changes in the skill needs of business and industry. This is crucial 
to job creation and productivity growth. Higher education institutions have begun to lay the 
foundations for the learning communities of the future, and their efforts should be 
strengthened through the ties of partnerships with local industry and services recommended 
in the Ciampi report on competitiveness and piloted successfully in the Comett and Leonardo 
da Vinci Programmes. The compulsory school system has also seen important initiatives, 
many spurred by EU programmes, but still needs considerable support and resources to build 
17 
the necessary alliances with the world of work. This raises issues of investment capacity, 
methodology and curricular development, with particular regard to learner needs. More 
broadly, since learning retention is much higher (80%) by "doing" rather than reading or 
hearing (5-10%) the potential for self learning using ICTs is immense, and if shaped correctly, 
could be a key tool for closing the knowledge gap itself. The basic principles of education and 
training have to be based more on the notion of learning capacities, rather than formal 
education and training. 
Using ICTs in schools 
Some Member States have launched plans for bringing their education systems in line 
with the dynamics of the Information Society. The federal German Ministry of Education 
recently announced one such initiative, Schulen ans Netz, through which 10,000 out of 
Germany's 52,000 schools over a 3-year period will be connected to national and 
international networks and multi-media services. In some of the German Lander, it has 
been decide to connect all schools, a goal which in the longer term is shared by the 
federal government. The Schulen ans Netz initiative is made possible by an innovative 
partnership between government and private enterprises* Similar initiatives have been 
launched in other countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Denmark, 
Sweden, Portugal and Finland. 
- learning bv doing: "the learning company" must emerge as a vital component of the 
learning society. People who work in such a company will be using their electronic access to 
knowledge and information to update their skills. This requires new forms of partnership 
between business, other organisations, and educators, to ensure that the new and changing 
skills required are made available. In this perspective, it is easy to understand that renewing 
education within working time will be more important than reduction in working time itself. 
The crux of this approach is to continually reinforce the employability of the workforce 
through training. The risk is that as firms develop more flexible employment contracts, with 
lower levels of job security, so as to rapidly adjust to changes in labour demand, the rationale 
for investment in the training of a principal labour force may be weaker rather than stronger. 
For example, the propensity of large Japanese firms to invest in training may be explained by 
the policy of life-long employment, which means that the returns on training are kept within 
the firm. In Europe, therefore, it should not be assumed that flexibility and job insecurity are 
one and the same thing. Indeed, the capacity of enterprises to continually adjust to market and 
technological change depends on the cooperation of a core, stable and loyal labour force. 
Enterprises should be encouraged to invest more in the training of their core labour force, and 
special incentives and arrangements should be provided to extend these instruments to the 
peripheral labour force. 
- retraining instead of deskilling; the most critical question is how people who have lost 
their old jobs are reintegrated into working life. Member States have mostly failed, during the 
last 20 years, to offer restarts for the unemployed. Tackling this problem is one of the central 
tasks of the Essen re-employment strategy, further underlined by the Heads of State and 
Government at the European Council in Madrid 1995. Instead of having 9 million people in 
long term unemployment and de-skilling, the most expensive form of public spending, with 
18 
the lowest return to the economy or the individual, and many more millions on their way to 
long term unemployment, the Member States should have 9 million involved in upgrading, 
maintaining and improving their skills in literacy, numeracy and informacy. It should be a 
right, and an obligation, for all unemployed to maintain and develop basic skills for the 
Information Society and have them imbued with relevance to the real, dynamic, labour 
market. Reintegration should start long before people become long term unemployed and 
discouraged. That is the fundamental difference between active and passive policies. In this 
framework, governments have to find ways to transform expenditures for passive labour 
market policies into active policies, preparing jobseekers for a more knowledge based pattern 
of production of goods and services. Focusing more of these financial resources on training 
grants and new skills, not merely cash assistance, will help in improving the dynamism of the 
labour market and of public finances overall. In this context, placement services also need to 
move towards the provision of more personalised ICT based support for job seekers. 
4.7. The platform: The new priorities in the convergence programmes 
77. There is now broad consensus in Europe that education and training play a fundamental 
role in a modern employment policy. This is why the Commission particularly welcomes the 
new emphasis given in the conclusions of the European Council in Florence to investment in 
human resources, in infrastructure, and in research and development. In this way, the 
Ministers of Labour and Employment, education and training, research and development, 
transport and communication have a new platform for initiatives which are important for 
growth and employment. 
78. Presenting education and training as a central element for a new re-employment policy 
can meet with opposition. The argument is that the deep-rooted employment problem in 
Europe cannot be solved through education and training if there are no new jobs to find after 
training. This argument is true, but misses the point. The purpose of education and training 
is not to replace macroeconomic policies for growth and new jobs. The purpose of a new 
education and training policy is to bring about a positive flexibility in enterprises and in the 
labour market that allows a more growth oriented macroeconomic policy to be pursued. That 
is why the key to employment growth is the development of an integrated approach between 
structural and macroeconomic measures, as outlined in the Broad Economic Guidelines and 
why education and training should be shaped to learner needs, with particular regard to 
combatting inequality and disadvantage, in order to unlock the productive potential of the 
whole population. 
19 
4.8. Questions for further reflection 
79. These challenges raise a number of questions that need to be addressed, notably in the 
framework of the Essen employment process (the Joint Employment Report to the Dublin 
Summit and the 1997 Multiannual Programmes). They concern: 
the capacity of education and training; against the perspective of the skills needs 
of the Information Society, what are the Member States' plans for the next 5 
years? 
the design and quality of education and training; how to reshape education and 
training to adjust to the existing and emerging needs of the Information Society, 
during the coming 5-10 years? 
the capacity for retraining those unemployed, which presently constitutes the 
weakest point in our system for education and training; how to give people who 
have lost their jobs a new start in working life? and, 
the degree to which equality of opportunity and access can be secured in order 
to ensure realisation of the productive potential of the whole active population. 
80. There are also some questions, where the social partners have a special responsibility, 
which need to be addressed in the framework of the social dialogue: 
what joint initiatives are the social partners prepared to take in the field of human 
resources to secure a continuous upgrading of skill and competence of workers 
to meet the needs of "the flexible firm" during the coming 5-10 years? 
what initiatives are the social partners prepared to take to give young people that 
have finished education and training a start in the real labour market, and 
opportunities to maintain and develop the basic skills required for the Information 
Society? 
20 
5. COHESION: LIVING IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY 
5.1. The concerns: concentration or cohesion? 
81. ICTs have a powerful capacity to shrink distance and improve access to information and 
services. The new technologies and networks have the potential to bring work to areas of high 
unemployment, to reduce the disadvantages of less favoured and more peripheral regions. 
82. But there are also concerns about the impact of ICTs on cohesion. Many people fear that 
the new technologies will reinforce rather than reduce existing inequalities, leading to a 
concentration of jobs and production in a few core regions. There are also concerns about the 
development of a two tier society of information "haves" and information "have nots". 
5.2. The facts: public policies make the difference 
83. In our market economies, there are strong forces that lead to concentration. That is why 
strong, coherent, public policies for fair distribution and social cohesion are necessary to 
balance economic progress and social justice. Fundamental changes, such as the information 
revolution, make such policies all the more necessary, but offer also many new opportunities 
to use ICTs to create an inclusive, productive society. 
84. Many Member States have realised the need for active ICT-policies, and proactive 
strategies to develop the Information Society are evolving at the Member State and regional 
levels. Generally, strategies begin by focusing on the basic aspects of infrastructure 
development and the need to support companies - especially SMEs - in adapting to the 
Information Society. Once support for the infrastructure has been set in place, the 
development of private and/or public partnerships is encouraged to promote a broader 
participation in the IS. A number of Member States have developed policies, for example, 
which recognise the importance of integrating schools and other educational institutions into 
the IS infrastructures. One example of a broader strategy is Denmark's Info-Society 2000 
programme, which aims to promote a range of electronic public services to develop the 
Information Society and to promote social inclusion within it. 
85. It is, of course, difficult to separate the impact of ICTs from the broader factors also 
affecting social and regional development. Generally speaking, there has been a slow trend 
towards convergence in income per head between Member States, but there has been virtually 
no change in overall income disparities between regions. While some of the weakest areas 
have converged strongly towards the levels of the rest, disparities between regions within the 
same Member State have tended to widen over time. 
86. EU policies play a major role in the progress being made by the cohesion countries to 
catch up with the rest, and Structural Funds have been effective in reducing socio-economic 
disparities, although the resources involved are not of the magnitude to fully offset general 
trends. Regional policies in the Member States seem to have been less successful. This 
presents new policy challenges concerning the relative economic advantage of non-core 
regions, and how best to maximise the opportunities and minimize the risks of new ICTs for 
cohesion in the Union. 
21 
5.3 The first challenge: to make the best of the new regulatory framework 
87. The first challenge is the need to maximise the potential of telecommunications 
liberalisation and the development of the new regulatory framework, which is a the heart of 
the move to the IS. The commitment to full liberalisation by 1 January 1998 will have a 
strong impact on the development of ICTs, productivity and growth. ICTs are becoming the 
main arteries of wealth creation, and access to efficient telecommunications networks is an 
essential prerequisite to taking advantage of IS. However, there remain significant differences 
between Member States and regions in the level of basic infrastructure provision, the cost and 
reliability of services, and the availability of advanced services. 
88. The Commission is working to ensure that the combination of new technologies and 
liberalisation reduces rather than widens existing regional differences. While full liberalisation 
has not yet been achieved, experience in markets that have already liberalised is encouraging, 
and evidence shows high levels of ICT penetration even in remote areas. To give but one 
example, Finland has by far the highest connection to Internet of all countries, measured in 
relation to population. The capacity to shrink distances is already deployed as an important 
element in developing regional policies. 
89. However, liberalisation will not automatically bring such benefits to all regions of the 
Community, partly because the existing levels of infrastructure and services are significantly 
lower in some areas, and partly because of educational and institutional barriers to the use of 
new ICTs. Care is needed to ensure that existing disparities are not widened. However, the 
solution cannot be to slow down the liberalisation of telecommunications and create obstacles 
for the implementation of ICTs. Rather, it is to strengthen flanking policies for infrastructure 
and human resource development, and the Structural Funds have an important role to play in 
this context. 
90. The definition of a universal service provision- the definition of a minimum set of services 
offered at affordable prices - is an important contribution to cohesion, and the Commission 
has already discussed this issue in its recent Communication on universal service for 
telecommunications8. However, going beyond this there remain important questions concerning 
the level and quality of access of less favoured and less populated regions, groups with special 
needs, and public institutions such as schools, hospitals and libraries, to the full range of IS 
services. These and other questions will be addressed in the Commission's first Monitoring 
Report on universal service provision in 1998. 
5.4. The second challenge: the human resource base 
91. The second challenge is to strengthen human resource development to stimulate the 
formulation of proactive strategies in cohesion regions, so that they can reap the benefits of 
the Information Society. The importance of the new integrated approach to ICT and 
organisational renewal has been discussed in Chapter 3. The need for an updated policy for 
skills and competencies for the Information Society has been discussed in Chapter 4. 
92. One conclusion is that human resources policies will be of growing importance in the 
future, as the production of goods and services will be more and more knowledge based. ICT 
Com 96 (73) final of 13.03.96 
22 
equipment can be bought and used all over the world. A crucial factor in determining the 
longer run success of a region is the knowledge of the people and their capacity to use ICTs. 
There is a need to reorient the Structural Funds within the framework of the emerging IS to 
take account of this. Policies must be more oriented to stimulating the access and use of 
modern ICTs. 
93. The prospects for success in less favoured regions appear to be strongest where innovation 
involves significant change in organisational behaviour in both enterprises and in public 
institutions. The new concept of the flexible firm could offer great opportunities for regional 
development. 
94. In "Action for Employment in Europe - A Confidence Pact", the Commission has taken 
the initiative to develop local and regional partnerships in order to improve growth and 
employment. The aim, without setting up new structures, is to generate and boost political 
momentum at the local level, focusing on realistic economic and job-creation objectives. The 
most important element involves mobilising all those concerned in business formation and job 
creation in political reflection and proposal making forums. The European Council in Florence 
gave the go-ahead for the process of selecting pilot regions and towns prepared to take part 
in territorial employment pacts. 
95. The process of stronger local involvement could be an important vehicle in developing 
a new, more employment intensive and human resource oriented cohesion policy approach in 
the Information Society. The European Commission, by means of Article 10 of the ERDF and 
Article 6 of the ESF, is supporting two types of innovative actions in the regions to take full 
advantage of the Information Society. First, the preparation of Regional Information Society 
Strategy and actions plans based on establishing a regional consensus based on wide local 
partnerships on how to integrate the Information Society into regional development policies 
(including human resources and labour market aspects). Second, the development of 
transnational pilot applications which demonstrate best practice. Partners will work together 
to prepare and launch applications which contribute to regional development and employment 
growth. Emphasis will be given to user-driven applications which can generate social and 
economic benefits and are related to wider regional development priorities (including 
applications for specific social groups, employment services, training, open and distance 
learning, healthcare, and business support services). The experience of these and other 
initiatives can provide the basis for broader assistance through the Structural Funds. 
5.5. The third challenge: empowerment and integration 
96. The third challenge is to use the Information Society to strengthen social cohesion and 
enhance people's ability to participate fully in every aspect of social and economic life, to 
make it a tool for the creation of an inclusive society. The Information Society should be 
about people and it should be used for people and by people to unlock the power of 
information, not to create new or reinforce existing inequalities between the information rich 
and the information poor. 
97. The Information Society provides many new possibilities to improve the quality of life 
of the citizens of Europe. It offers the possibility to generate new types of consumer and 
public service and new modes of access to existing services. In particular, many forms of 
disadvantage can be tackled in new ways. 
23 
98. But to achieve this requires a range of active public policies across many fields. This 
includes particularly workplace skilling and classroom access, and making the mastery of ICTs 
integral to labour market measures and local community development and support. It requires 
also equipping people to understand and relate to the changes brought about by new 
technologies in fields as diverse as democratic representation and retail services, learning and 
leisure, care and culture. For both public policy, and for generation of markets for ICTs, 
participation, access and confidence must be fostered. Examples of concerns and how they can 
be addressed include those of the generational balance, the disabled, and health care more 
generally. They also concern the problem of gender bias in terms of both access and in terms 
of the broader effect of ICTs in the labour market. 
99. Many of these questions have been discussed in more detail in the High Level Expert 
Group report and in the first annual report of the Information Society Forum. In the Member 
States, political initiatives are being taken, and enterprises and local authorities are responding. 
Access to the Information Society is improving. ICTs are becoming more user-friendly. The 
European Union has an important role to play in stimulating this process, for example though 
pooling of strength and experience, research and development, common pilot projects, and 
Structural Fund support. 
100. In pursuit of the objectives of empowerment and integration in the Information Society, 
this Green Paper focuses on four main issues: The first is the issue of democracy and the 
importance of access. The second concerns equality of opportunity between women and men. 
Third, there is the question of promoting social integration, particularly for groups with 
special needs. The fourth issue is that of public health. 
101. Democracy is not just a matter of voting in elections. It concerns participation and 
representation in a range of decision-making fora, at many levels. The European model is 
bedded in the concept of informed democracy. Real enfranchisement requires access to 
accurate current information on which to base democratic choices and decisions. For true, 
inclusive, democracy to exist, the whole population must have equal access to information to 
make choices effectively and equitably. The Information Society can enhance democracy by 
ensuring equal and public access to the ICT infrastructure, to networked information services 
and to the skills required to access these services. 
102. It is important that we realise the great potential for public expression and 
experimentation in the IS, especially in areas which are low cost and accessible to grassroots 
groups. As the Information Society Forum noted in its First Annual Report, the new 
technologies could have extraordinarily positive implications for our democracies and 
individual rights by strengthening pluralism and access to public information and enabling 
citizens to participate more in public decision making. The vitality of political debate could 
be reinvigorated through more use of direct democracy. At the same time, however, it is also 
important to counter the more negative aspects of the IS. The circulation of racist and 
pornographic material on the Internet, for example, give rise to considerable concern. 
103. An example of ICTs creating new opportunities for greater public participation in, and 
awareness of, the political process is the United States government's National Information 
Infrastructure, which includes an initiative for online government. Motivated by the desire to 
open up the relationship and dialogue between federal government and the general public, it 
is an important example of using ICTs to widen democratic participation. Another example, 
24 
from Europe is the Danish government's Info-Society 2000 programme, which involves 
developing a range of electronic public services aimed at developing the Information Society 
and promoting social inclusion within it. It includes a programme for an Open Network of 
Society, which is a coherent computing and télécoms network which will be as easy for 
citizens to use, and as readily accessible, as the telephone system currently is. 
104. This kind of approach would have substantial value for the European Union. If co­
ordinated on a EU-wide basis, it could greatly enhance social cohesion across the Union, and 
promote citizens' sense of European identity. In particular, the benefits of including the 
European institutions themselves in open government initiatives would be substantial. 
105. Clearly, the IS offers great potential for more accessible and effective public services. 
However the move towards electronic public service delivery presents technical and 
organisational challenges. If public services are to go on-line some level of access to technical 
facilities has to be guaranteed. Moreover, many people cannot afford to subscribe to IS 
services as individuals. Others live in locations where the IS infrastructural facilities are less 
well developed. Public access points or one-stop information centres therefore need to be 
established to complement the development of home based IS activities and services. In 
addition, it is important to take account of the needs of people who find ICT-based services 
difficult to use or hard to come to terms with. 
106. Equality of opportunity between women and men can be enhanced by the potential 
of ICTs to improve the balance between family and working life. But change is taking place 
within a heavily segregated labour market, and the impact of ICTs is very different on women 
and men. It is important, therefore, to be aware of this differential impact in areas as diverse 
as education and training, labour law, working patterns and skill profiles in order to respond 
effectively. For example, gender bias can be overcome in the training process by making 
course materials more 'gender aware', by ensuring that education and training can take place 
in environments which are more sympathetic to and comfortable for women, and by 
supporting the establishment of teleworking agencies which are directly aimed at supporting 
female workers. Further, much progress can be made by women being involved in the design 
and specification of ICT products. A range of work on addressing disadvantage and inequality 
has been undertaken at European Union level, including working on gender issues with 
Equality agencies in all the Member States, and specific action in the context of the Fourth 
Action Programme on Equal Opportunities.9 
107. More broadly, the changes in employment systems developing due to technological 
advances must be informed by the need to mainstream equality issues, both in terms of long 
run competitiveness and social justice, in order to maximise the potential, for both work and 
family life, of the changing roles of women and men. 
108. Social integration can also be enhanced by the potential offered by ICTs to achieve 
access and democracy, and to combat exclusion and isolation in all its forms. ICTs will permit 
more people to work from, or near, home for at least some of the time, opening the way for 
more communities to become alive during the working day, and will allow more 
services - especially education and community services - to be delivered at local level. As the 
Com (95) 381 
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High Level Expert Group noted, such changes could help to reinvigorate whole communities 
and lead to stronger social networks and a sense of place. ICTs could also help to overcome 
some of the disadvantages associated with mobility problems and a lack of access. Moreover, 
the IS can increase participation and therefore involvement and co-responsibility of citizens 
in a wide range of issues, such as environmental protection. 
109. At the same time, however, the transition to the Information Society also poses 
challenges to social cohesion. People living in isolated rural communities or in deprived inner 
city areas, people who are not in work or in education are unlikely to encounter, or have 
access to new technologies. This brings the danger of creating a two-tier Information Society. 
It must therefore be accompanied by a strategy designed to enhance active participation within 
our communities. Revitalising local communities and promoting a sense of proactivity in the 
Information Society is important because: 
revitalised communities are better able to generate employment opportunities and 
wealth in the global marketplace, 
changing demographic and social welfare trends mean increasing numbers of people 
require some form of care provision, 
ICTs have an important potential to support more cohesive and integrated communities 
and to reduce the exclusion facing disadvantaged groups, 
for many people, the relationship between work and leisure time is changing, and this 
has important implications at the individual, family and community level 
for those who are unemployed on a long term basis, new ways of playing an active 
role in society need to be found 
110. Promoting access to, and use of, ICTs in schools is vital to the development of an 
inclusive Information Society, and this issue will be tackled by the Commission's forthcoming 
action plan on "Learning in the Information Society". Learning can no longer be limited to 
schooling. The Information Society will also be a knowledge society, in which the need for 
life long learning - in school, in the home, and on the job - will be paramount. In this context, 
particular attention needs to given to the needs of older people and disabled people who are 
often perceived as being less geared to the use of ICTs and unable to take part in the IS. 
111. In fact, ICTs have the potential to improve the quality of life of older people and people 
with disabilities by facilitating independent living in the community and helping to open up 
new possibilities for access, participation and socio-economic integration. Realising this 
potential involves adapting the technology to peoples' needs. For example, ICT applications 
can provide alternative modes of communication and information presentation, such as 
multimedia services for people with sensory impairments. Equally, they can offer the 
opportunity to carry out activities from the home, such as telework or distance learning for 
people who have difficulties accessing employment and educational opportunities. They can 
also facilitate remote access to medical and social care and other support services. 
112. In various cities and regions across Europe, projects have been set up which use ICTs 
in innovative ways to help older and disabled people. The importance of ICTs as a tool to 
help promote integration of older and disabled people has also been recognised in a number 
of EU programmes. HANDYNET, for example, is a European-wide computerised information 
and documentation system on technical aids for disabled people, and research and 
development into the use of ICT products and applications to help disabled and older people 
26 
in their daily lives is currently being promoted under the EU's TIDE Programme (Telematics 
for the Integration of Disabled and Elderly). Consideration needs to be given to how this can 
be taken forward in the 5th Research and Technological Development (RTD) Framework 
Programme. These issues will also be covered in the Commission's forthcoming 
Communication on disabled people. 
113. However, realising the full potential of these new applications raises important questions 
about the availability, the affordability and the accessibility of ICTs. While some applications 
require only a basic phone line, others demand more advanced services which may not be 
within everybody's reach. In addition to the ongoing work to develop user-friendly 
applications, therefore, it is also important to ensure that both social policy and the 
telecommunications regulatory framework and universal service provision take full account 
of the evolving needs of older and disabled people, to enable them to participate fully in -
and benefit from - the Information Society. Many of these questions will be addressed in the 
Commission's first Monitoring Report on universal service provision in 1998. 
114. Healthcare design, delivery and scope is being reshaped by the emerging IS, and there 
is great scope for innovation. The introduction of ICTs in the health sector - and particularly 
health telematics - will facilitate better coverage of health services, improve the quality of 
diagnostics and healthcare and help to ensure the cost effective delivery of health services to 
sparsely populated and remote areas. 
115. The development of ICTs allows for and creates a need to reorganise work in health 
services at all levels. The entire health care system will be affected as will health service 
provision and processes. The jobs and skills required of health service staff will change 
substantially. Major training and retraining of healthcare professionals will be needed. In 
addition, healthcare telematics systems should provide the physician with greater support in 
terms of diagnostic capacity and information. 
The use of ICTs in healthcare 
The use of computers and computer-based patient records for primary care and in 
hospitals has increased quickly over the past 10 years in countries like the UK, where 
90% of general practitioners (GP) own a PC and 79% use electronic healthcare records, 
Denmark where 65% of GPs own PCs and use electronic health records, and the 
Netherlands where the numbers are 80% and 40% respectively while in other countries 
the progress was much slower. Great effort has been spent on standardisation of the 
electronic patient records and patients' smartcards in the Telematic Applications RTD 
Programme since the beginning of the 90s. As a result, communication between 
hospitals, general practitioners, laboratories has shown great improvement in quality of 
care, efficiency and cost effectiveness. 
27 
116. As part of these developments, there will be greater collection and transfer of medical 
records than in the past. Ensuring a high level of privacy and protection of health data will 
therefore be a major priority. New safeguards will be needed in order to ensure that both 
professionals and patients have confidence in the new systems. As the High Level Expert 
Group has noted, there may be a need in some cases for ethical standards in the health sector 
to be re-examined. 
117. Standardisation is also an important issue in telematics based healthcare. Appropriate 
standardisation of telematics and associated systems, including software is required at the 
European, national, regional and community levels if the potential system-wide benefits for 
healthcare are to be achieved. This is an area in which the European Commission, along with 
the appropriate international standardisation bodies, can provide some leadership 
118. Finally, evaluation of both the positive and the potentially adverse impacts of ICTs at 
various levels of health systems is crucial. Numerous pilot healthcare projects have been 
initiated in Europe but little coherent evaluation of the impact of telematics innovations has 
been undertaken to date. As the High Level Expert Group has noted the information and 
experience gained should be systematically collected, analyzed and distributed. They also 
recommended that clearing house activities for the analysis and exchange of such information 
should be established within the European Union framework. 
5.6. Consolidating progress 
119. Member States are developing public policies across the issues related to achieving social 
cohesion in the emerging Information Society. In all of these areas, the European Union is 
also playing its part, in terms of support of policy development, using mechanisms such as 
this Green Paper and the deliberations which have shaped it, through to pooling of strength 
and experience on specific issues. There is also significant Structural Fund support to all of 
these efforts. 
120. An important aspect of this range of activity is the work which has been done in the 
context of the Fourth RTD Framework Programme to promote the social applications of ICTs. 
The aim of creating a user-friendly Information Society - for example, through work on the 
identification of ways of giving people easier access to information and education throughout 
their lives - is one of the priority themes identified in the Commission's recent 
Communication on preliminary guidelines for the Fifth RTD Framework Programme.10 
5.7. Questions for further reflection: 
121. Harnessing the potential of ICTs to strengthen cohesion and achieve integration raises 
a number of important questions: 
Com (96) 332 
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what more should be done at Community, national and regional level to maximise 
the benefits of the liberalisation process and smooth the transition to the IS? 
what degree of priority are regional and local authorities giving to the IS within 
the scope of their responsibilities? What lessons have already been learned from 
the development of regional IS strategies and pilot actions, and how can this 
experience be built on and disseminated? 
what strategies can be developed, in the context of regional employment pacts, 
to provide the capacity and the access to unlock human resources potential to 
maximise the development impact of ICTs at local level? What kind of local, 
regional and national activities can be launched to promote and facilitate the 
development of telematics applications of societal interest which will respond to 
the needs of users? 
in terms of enhancing the democratic process, what actions need to be taken to 
maximise the potential for people to engage fully in active society? 
how can we, in particular, ensure that ICTs work to combat disadvantages and 
inequality and, in this context, how can the contribution of Commumty actions 
be maximised ? 
how can we facilitate the great potential of ICTs for developing better coverage 
and delivery of healthcare? 
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6. THE INFORMATION SOCIETY - THE EUROPEAN WAY 
122. The European Union is built on a strong tradition of cultural diversity, political 
democracy and market economy. The Member States have developed social models with many 
common features including strong social rights and independent social partners, able to take 
responsibility for working conditions and for fair distribution. In the framework of the 
European Union the Member States have created one single market of 370 million consumers 
with some 16 million enterprises - the largest economic entity in the world. 
123. The European social model is built both on competition between enterprises and 
solidarity between citizens and Member States. The European Information Society must draw 
strongly from this economic, social and cultural strength, linking technological, economic and 
social aspects together in the creation of new opportunities for all its citizens. 
124. The Information Society represents the most fundamental change in our time, with 
enormous opportunities for society as a whole, but with risks for individuals and regions. The 
way we develop it must reflect the ideas and values which have shaped the European Union. 
These ideas and values should be transparent and coherent with social justice in order to win 
the support of citizens. To this end, the Commission invites all interested parties to reflect on 
the possibility of formulating a set of common Community principles for the development of 
the European Information Society. 
125. The Commission suggests that public policies should inter alia: 
1. Strengthen the capacity of the EU economy to create jobs, achieve high levels and 
sustainable rates of economic growth and employment, ensure that SMEs take full 
advantage of the IS, and improve cohesion across the Member States and regions, 
using the potential of ICTs to increase productivity in the use of labour, capital and 
material resources. 
2. Improve democracy and social justice by ensuring that the potential of ICTs to provide 
relevant, up-to-date, information on matters of common interest and to enable citizens 
to participate in public decision making, are fully supported by governments, with the 
involvement of non-governmental organisations. 
3. Ensure that the objectives of equal opportunity policies are enhanced, at work and in 
the home, by paying particular attention to the education of young people in ICTs, and 
by incorporating ICT information and training in the various policies and actions 
designed to correct imbalances in the gender roles of adults. 
4. Overcome the disadvantages faced by disadvantaged social groups, and ensure that 
those who currently lack opportunities in society have the possibility to master ICTs 
and to thereby improve their relative position, rather than become further 
disadvantaged. 
5. Support people with special needs, many of whom can be helped to improve their 
quality of life and address their own needs, as well as to further enhance their 
contributions to society as a whole, with the help of ICT. 
30 
6. Reduce bureaucracy and improve the quality and efficiency of public administration 
at national, regional and local level, and improve the overall benefits of welfare state 
services, such as health care and education, through efficiency improvements and 
through the better matching of provisions and individual needs. 
Comments are invited on all of the issues presented in this Green Paper. They should be sent 
to: 
PEOPLE FIRST 
European Commission 
Directorate General V 
Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs 
DG V/B/5 
200, rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 200 
B-1049 
BELGIUM 
By 31 December 1996. 
Comments can also be sent by e.mail to: peoplefirst@fse.dg5.cec.be 
Copies of this Green Paper, the High Level Expert Group Report and the Information Society 
Forum Report are also available at the above address, or from the ISPO Web server at: 
URL: http://www.ispo.cec.be/infosoc/legreg/docs/peopllst.html 
http://www.ispo.cec.be/hleg/hleg.html 
http ://www. ispo. cec. be/info forum/pub. html 
This Green Paper is also accessible by clicking on the following icons: 'The European 
Institutions', 'European Commission', 'Directory of the European Commission', 'DG V 
Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs'; at the Web site of the European Union: 
http ://europa. eu. int/ 
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ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(96) 389 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 16 15 05 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-412-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-07832-8 
Office for Official Publications of the European Conununities 
L-2985 Luxembourg 
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