Getting Europe back to work - Recruitment & Employment Confederation

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Remove barriers to service sector growth by extending the scope of the EU Services Directive; ... As well as enabling wo
Getting Europe back to work Making jobs, growth and global competitiveness the priority in a post-recession EU The EU is good for business. UK plc has benefited from the lifting of trade barriers and the free movement of goods and services. However, the EU must reform to become more business friendly to compete with emerging economies in the global economy. According to the European Commission’s own data, 74% of Europeans believe the EU creates too much red tape. The major challenge for Europe is jobs. Private sector businesses are creating the roles to get Europe back to work and the EU should be doing all it can to make this happen. The REC supports a pan-European labour market based on skills, mobility and opportunity. Jobs, growth and competiveness must be core priorities for a post-recession Europe. The REC calls for the following: 

Remove barriers to service sector growth by extending the scope of the EU Services Directive;



Champion effective labour market strategies and review restrictions on agency work in line with the aims of the EU Agency Workers Directive;



Promote an open and dynamic European labour market by expanding the EURES scheme and through effective enforcement of the EU Posting of Workers Directive;



Address youth unemployment and labour market inclusion by sharing best practice and raising awareness of EU initiatives. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Remove barriers to service sector growth by extending the scope of the EU Services Directive The EU needs to do much more to open up the service sector. We still have far too many barriers in relation to the provision of services across Europe. Architects and engineers wanting to work in Germany will find no single market. Nor is a lawyer or patent agent able to work freely in Poland. Recruitment agencies looking to do business in Italy have to open an office in four separate regions. Regulations which still require service providers to be a national of the country or resident in a country are still prevalent across the EU. A recent Euro barometer survey has shown that currently only 8% of SMEs engage in cross-border activities because of the administrative and legal complexities. So a genuine single market in the provision of services must be a priority. The EU Services Directive sought to open up the single market for services. However, it has not yet created the EU-wide market envisaged when the directive was adopted. Of particular relevance for our members, agencies were explicitly excluded from the directive. It is time to create a genuine common market for services and a level playing field for UK businesses. ___________________________________________________________________________________

2. Champion effective labour market strategies and review restrictions on agency work in line with the aims of the EU Agency Workers Directive As well as providing equal treatment for temporary staff across Europe, a core element of the Agency Workers Directive was to encourage national governments to review restrictions on temporary work. This just is not happening and needs to be a priority if we are going to reduce unemployment. UK recruiters have complied with the complexity of the directive, and believed this would also lead to new market opportunities across Europe through the lifting of restrictions in other countries. This has not happened. Removing restrictions will enable employers to react quickly to fluctuating demand. Lifting barriers is identified as a priority in the Eurociett manifesto as modernising labour market regulations will boost labour market participation and unlock the contribution of private employment services to economic growth. There is also an important point of principle at stake here, namely the fact that the UK has fully implemented the Directive, which has been costly, whereas other countries have simply paid lipservice to reviewing restrictions. We call on the EU to fully implement Clause 4 of the AWD without delay. The Commission’s review of the Agency Work Directive in March 2014 confirmed that the use of the so-called Swedish Derogation would be kept under regular review. We do not believe the derogation has been mis-interpreted in UK law: it was agreed in negotiations between business bodies and unions in the UK, and provides a trade-off between pay and contractual security. The derogation can be used to ensure that the temporary workers have the opportunity of a job with the agency and full employment rights. The derogation ensures a more secure income stream to workers. The REC will continue to work with members and government and to ensure that workers are aware of their rights. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Promote an open and dynamic European labour market by expanding the EURES scheme and through effective enforcement of the EU Posting of Workers Directive The REC supports a European labour market based on skills, mobility and opportunity. Worker mobility is a fundamental pillar of the EU and contributes to better functioning labour markets. The Financial Times recently reported that there are 2.2 million British citizens living in the EU which is counterbalanced with the 2.3 million EU citizens living in the UK, based on official figures and shows that the number of UK nationals living and working across the EU is about the same of the number of EU national currently working in the UK. As well as enabling workers to access job opportunities across Europe, free movement enables businesses to tap into a larger talent pool. The EURES network is an essential instrument to strengthen worker mobility, with public employment services in different Member States working together to facilitate free movement. The EURES portal gives access to over 1.4 million job vacancies and nearly 31,000 registered employers. We support European Commission proposals to open up the service to private employment services. Professional bodies like the REC with a strong track record on compliance and standards can play a critical role by working with national governments and the Commission to develop an effective, transparent and proportionate accreditation system. Effective enforcement of the EU Posting of Workers (which covers workers sent to carry out their work on a temporary basis in another country) must also be a priority. Ensuring effective, proportionate and efficient controls is a national responsibility. Improved access to information on the rights that must be afforded to posted workers in respective member states is vital - ideally we need a standardised and centralised database maintained via contributions from national

governments. Enhancing cooperation between member states to ensure enforcement, particularly between labour inspectorates and relevant regulatory bodies, is also key. ___________________________________________________________________________________

4. Address youth unemployment and labour market inclusion by sharing best practice and raising awareness of EU initiatives Eurostat data shows a youth unemployment rate of 23.5% in the euro area, compared with 24.0% in February 2013. This is unacceptably high. The REC welcomes the focus on Youth Employment in the Europe 2020 strategy and the aims of the Youth Guarantee Scheme. However, proposed ‘guaranteed job’ schemes fail to tackle the fundamental reason that young people across Europe find it so difficult to enter the labour market. Creating the right economic circumstances in which business can grow and create jobs must be the goal. Exchanging best practice, in areas such as effective career guidance, is an important way forward. It also crucial to champion co-operation between public employment services and private sector recruitment agencies – in particular by building on the European Commission’s PARES initiativethe REC/DWP Partnership Agreement can showcase how. The UK must work with the EU Commission and Council to ensure that the €192 million allocated to the UK under the Youth Employment Initiative is used constructively. Priorities should be better quality vocational education and training, more targeted career guidance, and accessible labour market data to inform young people’s career plans. The initiative provides matched funding up to €6 billion. Harnessing the involvement of the business community must also be an EU-wide priority. The REC and its members have seized the initiative through our Youth Employment Charter which encourages members to build links with local schools and colleges. To date, REC members have offered guidance and support to over 20,000 young people. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion Prioritising jobs, growth and competiveness must mean less regulatory interventions in areas such as employment policy. The majority of REC members are small and medium sized enterprises who are disproportionately affected by complex administrative and legal requirements and we welcome the European Commission's commitment to review and simplify existing regulations through the REFIT programme. The UK must play a leading role in ensuring that the EU prioritises job creation above all else. The next five years must be about driving a shift in mind-set in order to boost job opportunities for EU citizens and help businesses to thrive in a competitive global economy. The UK must be at forefront of getting Europe back to work and making Europe for everybody. ___________________________________________________________________________________ About us The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) is the professional body for the UK’s £26.5 billion recruitment industry, representing over 3,500 members (80% of the industry by turnover). All members sign up to our Code of Professional Practice and pass the REC’s Compliance Test. We work closely with many government departments and have a formal Partnership Agreement with the DWP. The REC is also member of Eurociett, the representative body for the recruitment industry in Europe, and we fed into the development of their EU manifesto. For more information, please contact: David Geary, Policy Advisor – [email protected]