EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 70/49

(2004/C 70 E/052)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1506/03

by Ilda Figueiredo (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 May 2003)

Subject: Quality of new jobs

The Commission Communication ‘Scoreboard on implementing the Social Policy Agenda’ (1) states that since 1997 more than 10 million jobs have been created — 6 million of which have been taken up by women.

However, it is not enough to create jobs. We need to know what kind of jobs they are and their quality.

Can the Commission therefore say for each Member State:

1. how many jobs have been created each year in each Member State since 1997, broken down by gender and age group;

2. how many of these jobs are full-time ones, how many part-time and how many subject to a fixed-term contract;

3. in what main sectors new jobs have been created?

Answer given by Mrs Diamantopoulou on behalf of the Commission

(6 June 2003)

1. The tables at Annex 1 which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat indicate for each Member State the net employment creation (in 1 000 units) from year to year since 1997, based on figures from the Community Labour Force Survey (Eurostat) for the employment levels for the second quarter of each year. Data are presented in separate tables covering total net employment creation as well as net employment creation broken down by gender and by age group (using age the groups 15-24, 25-54, 55-64). For the Union as a whole, there has been net employment creation for each year from 1997 to 2002, a feature also reflected by the vast majority of individual Member States. The tables presenting the breakdown by gender show that the majority of the overall Union net employment creation has been due to a rise in employment levels for women. The age-group tables reveal that the 25-54 age group has benefited most from employment creation between 1997 and 2002, but it is also worth noting that there has been a rising trend in employment creation for the 55-64 age group over this timeframe compared to a generally declining trend for the other groups.

2. Based on the same data source, Annex 2 which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat as well, provides data on net employment creation between the years 1997 and 2002 in terms of the changes in employment levels for full-time jobs and part-time jobs. Similarly, further tables are provided on the net employment creation between these two reference years in terms of permanent and temporary (fixed-term contract) employment of employees. The data show that for the Union as a whole over the 1997 to 2002 period net employment creation involving full time employment was more than twice that for part time employment, and that net employment creation involving permanent employment was almost four times that for temporary employment. Only Belgium, Germany and Austria saw a fall in full time employment levels over this period, and part time employment levels declined only in Denmark and Sweden. All Member States experienced a rise in employment involving permanent jobs. The level of temporary employment declined in Denmark, Ireland Austria and the United Kingdom.

3. The table at Annex 3 which is sent to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat shows for each Member State the development in employment levels within the main sectors (agriculture, industry, services) between the years 1997 and 2002, also using data from the Community Labour Force Survey (Eurostat). From this it is clear that there has been a reduction in net employment in the agricultural sector in all Member States between 1997 and 2002, while all Member States have experienced noticeable employment creation in the services sector. Developments in employment in the industry sector show a mixed picture across Member States, with Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Finland, as well as to a more limited degree the Netherlands and Austria, having experienced an increase in employment levels in this sector during 1997-2002. This resulted in net employment creation for the industry sector for the Union as a whole.

(1) COM(2003) 57 final.