Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies COM(2007) 76 final
Date: 2007-05-31
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: Eurostat, data collection, employment policy, employment statistics, legal basis

27.7.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 175/11

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council on quarterly statistics on Community job vacancies’

COM(2007) 76 final

(2007/C 175/03)

On 4 April 2007, the Council decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under
Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

On 24 April 2007 the Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and
Economic and Social Cohesion to prepare the Committee's work on the subject.

Given the urgent nature of the work, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Ms Florio
as rapporteur-general at its 436th plenary session, held on 30 and 31 May 2007 (meeting of 31 May 2007),
and adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1. Background

1.1
Access to reliable and good quality statistics is an indis-
pensable instrument for enabling institutional, economic and
social operators to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of
specific legislative choices and take future decisions.

1.7
The Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs 2005-
2008 and the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BPEGs),
the European Employment Strategy (EES),
in the context of
the entire European
require aggregated structural data,
Union, on job vacancies according to economic sector for the
purpose of analysing the level and structure of labour demand.

for

1.2
Indeed, having an overview that is as accurate and as
close as possible to present realities is essential for adopting the
best possible policies.

1.8
The availability of reliable and frequently updated statis-
tical data also enables individual Member States to assess the
labour market and then adopt labour policy decisions, some-
times on a regional basis.

1.3
This is particularly true in the case of statistics on the
employment situation in Europe, for the purpose of analysing
progress made by Member States towards the Lisbon objectives.

2. The Commission proposal

1.4
In order to understand the labour market situation in the
European Union, it is extremely important to know the sectors
and regions where there are job vacancies. Unfilled vacancies are
indicators for structural variations by economic sector and can
provide a useful framework for identifying European regions
with labour shortages, or — conversely — with significant
economic and employment growth.

National data on job vacancies and occupied posts have
2.1
been collected since 2003 under a gentlemen's agreement.
Although this agreement guaranteed the Member States' flexi-
bility and independence, it did not entirely meet the data users'
needs.

1.5
Job vacancies are included in the set of Principal
European Economic Indicators (PEEIs) and are an indicator that,
if made available rapidly, can also be useful to the European
Central Bank and the Commission for assessing the impact of
economic trends in specific sectors, and weighing up monetary
policy decisions.

2.2
At present, four Member States have not sent data to
Eurostat and the data provided are not always perfectly compar-
able. As for quarterly data collection, ECB and Commission
requirements in terms of coverage, timeliness and harmonisa-
tion are not being satisfied at all.

1.6
The re-launched Lisbon Strategy, which dates back to the
European Council of March 2005, made creating more and
better jobs one of its key priorities. This has inevitably rein-
forced the need for better statistical
information on labour
demand.

2.3
Through the proposal for a regulation (COM(2007) 76
final), which was drawn up on the initiative of the Employment
Committee, the Commission therefore hopes to introduce a
regulation that will make it possible to obtain timely and
comparable statistics on job vacancies.

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Official Journal of the European Union

27.7.2007

During the preparation of
consultation with

the proposal, which also
2.4
included
Statistical
the
Programme Committee (SPC), various options were considered.
Under the option finally adopted, annual structural data will
continue to be dealt with in the short term on a gentlemen's
agreement basis.

experts

and

Thus,

the proposal

2.5
focuses mainly on provisions
governing the collection of quarterly statistics on vacancies.
Based on the experience of this regulation, consideration will be
given to the future possibility of drawing up a new regulation to
cope with the demands for annual data.

3. Conclusions and recommendations

3.1
The EESC emphasises the importance of having EU
employment statistics that are as coherent and reliable as
possible.
the
it
Commission's efforts to set up a legal framework for obtaining
up-to-date, comparable and relevant job-vacancy statistics at EU
level.

and supports

reason,

values

this

For

2.6
The level of detail required for each economic activity is
to be determined on the basis of the version of the common
classification system for economic activities in the Community
(NACE) that is currently in force.

3.2
In order to achieve the economic, and especially employ-
ment-related, objectives of the Lisbon Strategy, reliable and effi-
cient statistical support must be available for all statistics users
and economic, social and institutional operators at EU and
national levels.

2.7 While maintaining established quality standards wherever
possible, Member States are free to use administrative data or to
restrict the range of economic sectors to be considered, in order
to reduce the burden on businesses (Article 5).

2.8
The Commission (Article 8) proposes to establish a series
of feasibility studies to be undertaken by Member States that have
difficulties in providing data for:

a) units with fewer than 10 employees; and/or

b) the following activities:

i) agriculture, forestry and fishing activities,

ii) public administration and defence; compulsory social

security,

iii) education,

iv) human health and social work,

v) arts, entertainments and recreation, and

vi) activities of memberships organisations, repair of compu-
ters and personal and household goods and other
personal service activities.

During the initial phase (the first three years), Member
2.9
States may receive a financial contribution from the EU. The
financing will be covered by the Community Programme for
Employment and Social Solidarity — PROGRESS (1) (Article 9).
Thus, innovations and improvements in data collection can be
the gentlemen's
launched in addition to the completion of
agreement phase.

The EESC also endorses the choice of instrument, i.e. an
3.3
EU regulation,
insofar as the purpose of the proposal, as is
usually the case for the majority of statistical activity, requires
the European
detailed and uniform application throughout
Union.

3.4
The decision to include only quarterly data collection in
the proposed regulation and to continue to apply the gentle-
men's agreement to the annual structural data is undoubtedly
dictated by a well-founded desire for a gradual transition from
an informal agreement to an EU regulation on data collection.
The results obtained during the transitional period will have to
be closely monitored, and the EESC hopes that a more complete
and reliable framework will be achieved in the near future for
both annual and quarterly data on EU labour-market potential.

The EESC regrets that there is no impact assessment as yet, but
expects the Commission to produce one before a secondary
implementing regulation could be adopted, as there will, in prin-
ciple, be an increase in costs and in burdens on European busi-
nesses without offsetting reductions for other survey activity.

3.5
Nevertheless, the EESC believes that due to the need to
simplify and reduce the cost of data collection, a not entirely
clear choice has been made to make data collection optional for
sectors defined as ‘seasonal’, namely agriculture,
fishing and
forestry.

(1) Adopted by Decision 1672/2006 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 24 October 2006. Under Section 1. Employment, the
financing of measures relating to statistics is specifically mentioned:
‘[…] improving the understanding of the employment situation and prospects,
in particular through […] the development of statistics and common indicators
[…]’.

3.6
‘Seasonal adjustment’ however raises a range of questions
about the reliability of such statistics, since in other industrial
sectors and/or the public sector, seasonal-type contracts have
been in use for years (textile industry, agri-food industry,
tourism, etc. …).

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C 175/13

Furthermore,

3.7
in all EU countries, work contracts
currently provide for dozens of different forms of employment
relations. It would therefore be useful to know the types of job
vacancy involved (open-ended contracts, fixed-term contracts,
part-time contracts, projects, partnerships, etc).

3.8
A framework that was closer to the real potential of the
labour market, its trends and weaknesses in certain sectors and
regions, would make it possible to focus better on the strategies
to be implemented in order to achieve the Lisbon goals.

This is another

3.9
reason why the EESC believes that
consultation with the European social partners and their direct
involvement is particularly necessary in these areas.

The EESC welcomes the Parliament's powers of scrutiny over
the proposal which will be subject to co-decision with the Euro-
pean Parliament. Implementing regulations will be subject to
comitology under the regulatory procedure with scrutiny,
in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Council Decisions
1999/468/EC and 2006/512/EC.

Brussels, 31 May 2007.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 on the establish-
ment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) by reason of the accession
of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union’

COM(2007) 95 final — 2007/0038 (COD)

(2007/C 175/04)

On 25 April 2007 the Council of the European Union decided to consult the European Economic and
Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovemen-
tioned proposal.

The Committee Bureau instructed the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social
Cohesion to prepare the Committee's work on the subject.

Given the urgent nature of the work, the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Burani as
rapporteur-general at its 436th plenary session, held on 30 and 31 May 2007 (meeting of 30 May 2007),
and adopted the following opinion unanimously.

1. Introduction

Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of

1.1
the European
Parliament and of the Council established a common classifica-
tion of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) for the Member
States.

An initial amendment was made in 2005 following the
1.2
accession of 10 new Member States. A further amendment has
become necessary following the accession of Bulgaria and

Brussels, 30 May 2007.

Romania,
Member States into the annex to the regulation.

to insert

in order

tables concerning these new

2. Comments and conclusions

The EESC takes note of

2.1
the Commission's proposal.
Given that the need for the proposal has arisen following the
accession of new Member States, and that it is of a purely tech-
nical nature, the Committee gives its full agreement.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS