By 2010 the EU hopes to have “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”, with a 70% adult employment rate.

Included within this plan is a 60% employment rate for women and a 50% rate for older workers between the ages of 55 and 64. It will achieve some of these aims in some countries. Denmark, for instance, already has a 76% employment rate among adults of working age, a 72% rate for women, and a 60% rate for older workers. But many other countries lag a long way behind – notably Poland (with rates of 53%, 47% and 27% respectively), Hungary (57%, 51%, 33%) and Italy (58%, 45% and 31%).

In terms of being efficient, however, the US wins the honours over the EU. Productivity gains per worker are growing twice as fast in the US (up 2.1% in 2005), as in the EU (up 1% in 2005, according to the annual EU report Employment in Europe).

Whether or not they meet the 2010 targets (the so-called Lisbon agenda), EU countries are mainly seeing their employment rates improve. (Germany has suffered a decline in recent years, but this decline appears to be slowing, and may even be reversed). Impressively, EU countries are achieving employment growth at a time when workers’ rights are being strengthened.

Equality in the workplace

The EU has been hot on the subject of equality for more than three decades now. Member states had until the end of 2006 to introduce anti-ageism laws – another milestone in a long list of anti-discrimination measures that started with age and nationality, and now also include disability, religious belief and sexual orientation. Many employers could be unaware of their duties under these laws and many employees do not know enough about their rights to enforce them. But if employers are taken to a tribunal, they can end up paying a lot for their mistakes, in the form of compensation payments, management time and legal fees. In the UK, compensation payments for race claims in 2005/06 averaged £30,000 in the appeal tribunals (while those for disability averaged £19,000 and those for sex discrimination hit £11,000).

Enabling people to work for longer in life is a major trend of current employment practice – not least because it will help solve the pension crisis. This will, in turn, force employers to manage their staff better as, if the compulsory retirement age comes to be abandoned, being "too long in the tooth” will no longer be a reason to end someone’s employment. Instead, employers will have to find better ways to better measure the performance of workers and to part company with them if they are no longer capable of doing the job.

Different countries have experimented with different practices in employment law in recent years, but with varying levels of success. The UK’s minimum wage rules have been fairly well accepted, while France’s maximum 35-hour week has been far more controversial.

One of the biggest UK employment problems is the way pregnant women and new mothers continue to be unfairly treated in some places of work. These women have considerable protection under the law, but few exercise their rights. Once the European Council reviews its progress on the Lisbon agenda in 2010, it may decide to set the issue of working mothers as a priority for the next stage.

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