Eu Leaders must take action to prevent the decline of good jobs in Europe

12.03.08 - 12:43 ... source : European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)

... On 13-14 March, European Union leaders meet to assess the state of the European economy and labour market, at the Spring Council meeting in Brussels. On the eve of the summit, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has carried out a study among its national affiliates, which shows that the proportion of insecure, low-paid jobs is spreading across Europe. Action is needed to reverse this trend. The European Commission claims that 6.5 million new jobs have been created in the last two years. However, trade unions in the Member States testify that they leave much to be desired in terms of quality. The number of workers on fixed-term contracts has increased by 10 million since 1997. Many of the new jobs are part-time, with almost one-fifth of EU workers now employed on this basis – at least 20% of them because they cannot get a full time job. Some 31 million workers earn poverty wages and 17 million ...» Next (HTML)