Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

ILAB Press Release: Labor Department Releases Report of Employment Conference with European Union [10/16/1997]

For more information call: (202) 219-6373 X 164

The U.S. Department of Labor has published the report of last spring's joint U.S. - European Union (EU) conference on employment policy and security. The conference was the first initiative to result from the working group on employment issues set up under the New Atlantic Agenda. The Agenda, signed in December 1995 by President Clinton and Felipe Gonzalez, the Spanish Prime Minister and then-President of the EU, calls for, among other matters, cooperation between the U.S. and EU in the field of jobs and growth.

The focus of the international gathering was employability security and investment in human capital. Although the U.S. economy has generated phenomenal job growth in the last five years and the combined economies of the EU have been plagued with essentially the opposite, Europe and the United States are confronted with similar problems in the area of employability.

The report highlights findings on such questions as the transition from school to work, from job to job and from unemployment to work. Such issues, although not new, now must be considered in the context of global competition, accelerated technological progress and changes in the organization and performance of work. In addition, demographic shifts in the workforce -- aging workforce, longer life expectancy, declining birth rate -- add to the complexity of the issues. The conference participants explored these questions within the context of labor market policy.

Copies of the report are available from: Robert W. Bednarzik, USDOL, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20210; telephone (202) 219-6100 ext. 135; e-mail rbednarzik@dol.gov

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.