On 6 November the Eu published the definitive data on employment in Europe for the year 2005. The Eu still presents lower figures than the USA and Japan for the employment rate of the working population (63.8%) and for employment growth in annualised terms (+0.9%). But the increase of both figures over 2004 underlines the positive trend registered by the labour market and by the employment policy of the EU and member states. In particular, the annual rate of growth of female work (0.6% for a total of 56.3% women in employment) is increasing more rapidly that the corresponding figure for men, which is growing only thanks to the increase of more elderly workers. The figures on the trend in unemployment are also comforting: it dropped from 9.1% to 8.7%. In particular, for the first time in the last decade, a decline in the average unemployment rate of youngsters aged between 15 and 24 was registered last year: 18.5%. The figures also show that the system of flexicurity has also gained a firm foothold: namely, the “global formula of labour market policy that combines sufficiently flexible contractual clauses – in such a way as to permit firms and employees to adapt to changes – with the security for workers to keep their own job or rapidly find a new one with the guarantee of enjoying a proper wage between one job and another”.
