BRUSSELS (MktNews) - The EU Commission on Friday published its Employment in Europe 2001 report, which found that, in general, EU labour markets are becoming less rigid and that job creation is being driven by the hi-tech sector and by highly-skilled women.
The report presents an analysis of the main trends and outlook for employment in the EU and the candidate countries against the background of the new targets for employment set by the Lisbon and Stockholm summits.
"This report shows that Europe's labour markets are capable of rapid structural change to a more dynamic, knowledge-based economy," said Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for employment and social affairs. "If growth is sustained and product markets further developed across the EU, we have every chance of reaching the Lisbon goal of being the most competitive and inclusive place in the world to live and do business by 2010."
The report said the high-tech and knowledge-intensive sectors drove job creation by contributing to more than 60% of total job creation between 1995 and 2000.
Employment growth was also stronger for low and medium-skilled employed in high-tech sectors and knowledge-intensive sectors.
"A significant skill gap is not detected from the analysis. However, this does not preclude the emergence of skill mismatches in the transition to a more knowledge-based economy," the Commission said.
Women also drove job creation, and more than 1.6 million of the 3 million jobs created in 2000 were taken by women. The employment rate for women stood at 54%, up from 52.8% in 1999. In the 1995-2000 period, the gender gap in employment rates has narrowed by 2 percentage points.
The overall employment performance of the EU improved significantly in 2000, when employment grew by 1.8%, up from 1.6% in 1999. Over 3 million new jobs were created, and the employment rate stood at 63.3%, up from 62.3% in 1999.
For the third year in a row, more full-time jobs than part-time jobs were created in 2000. Full-time jobs accounted for almost 70% of the net jobs created, up from 60% in 1999 and 54% in 1998.
However, the report notes that some sectors are still dominated by one gender, even in the fast growing high-skilled, non-manual occupations, and the gender gap is even widening in traditional occupations. Some evidence shows that ever-tighter rhythms of work are affecting job quality.
Europeans are generally satisfied with their jobs and working conditions, the Commission said. Almost 80% of all employed report high or even very high levels of satisfaction, compared to 20% who are dissatisfied with their current job.
Almost a quarter of the European workforce is in low-quality jobs -- jobs that lack security and training.
But European labour markets exhibit major quality dynamics, the