By Martin Banks - 10th December 2007
EU member states have been urged to “step up” efforts to improve workers’ mobility.
At present, only eight million, or two per cent, of EU citizens of working age live and work in another member state.
Several factors, including legal and administrative obstacles, along with the cost and availability of housing, contribute to the low figures.
Now the European commission has launched a three-year ‘action plan’ designed to promote EU-wide job mobility.
The four-point plan, unveiled by EU employment commissioner Vladimir Spidla at a news conference on Monday, includes proposals to raise awareness of workers’ rights to work abroad.
He said there needed to be more events like the European job days, held in 200 cities every September.
Other proposals include improving existing laws on social security coordination and seeking support from local and national authorities in member states.
Spidla said, “Worker mobility is both a fundamental right for EU citizens and a key instrument for developing a European labour market.
“It helps to better match workers with jobs, overcoming bottlenecks in the labour market and allowing more people to find better jobs.”
“But we need more cooperation among member states and stakeholders to make sure workers can fully benefit from mobility.”
Spidla said that despite “significant” progress in recent years the rate of cross-border mobility remained “relatively low”.
He cited the UK and Ireland as two countries which have reaped “enormous” benefits from opening up their labour markets to people from other EU member states.
*Details about 1.5m jobs currently available in Europe are advertised on www.eures.europa.eu
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