According to the Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2013 report, released by the European Commission on Tuesday, January 21, the anticipated decrease in unemployment won’t be enough to keep poverty from spreading across the continent, because of differences in pay and the exponential growth of part-time work. In a context of economic crisis, we have witnessed, in recent years in Europe, a worrying increase in poverty among working age people, combined with lower financial resources, emphasized European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs, Laszlo Andor, when he presented the report’s conclusions to the press. The document also makes three observations: the probability of finding a job increases with welfare provisions; imbalance between men and women remains; and the social dimension of the economic and monetary union must be acted quickly. This report, the third of this kind, is designed to back up the policies related to the “inclusive growth” chapter of the Europe 2020 Strategy.
Fight the plague of precarious jobs. According to the European executive, pay disparity, caused by the multiplication of part-time work among other things – notably when it isn’t voluntary, has been fueling this growing poverty trend, including among young people, even though unemployment has been gradually decreasing. Indeed, the report points out that, in practice, finding a job only means leaving poverty for 50 percent of people.
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