Commission issues 2002 Employment in Europe report
[EIRO - 23 October 2002] The Commission highlights 'active ageing' as a key challenge for the European labour market, as the employment rate for older workers increased between 1995 and 2000 by only 1.8 percentage points, compared with 3.3 percentage points for the whole working-age population. It notes that significant progress was made during 2001, when the employment rate for older workers increased by 0.8 percentage points over the year, but points out that this is not sufficient to enable the EU to reach the Stockholm target. The report cites a number of areas in which improvements could be made, including: reforms to the tax, benefit and pension systems in the EU; a fundamental change in the attitudes of society; recruitment and training practices; and 'quality of work' , including in particular work organisation and working conditions.