1. European commerce is
the essential link between producers and the 370 million consumers in
theEuropean Union. Accounting for one third of all enterprises and
employing twenty million people throughout the European Union, retail
and distribution contributes to the added value, generating 14 per
cent of the European value added. The significance of this sector is
in the service that it offers to consumers, making it possible for
them to obtain the widest possible range of products, the best
possible service and the best value for their money, helping to
maximise their purchasing power.
2. Commerce is thus a
cornerstone of the Single Market of the European Union. To provide its
service, European retail and distribution will continue to extensively
rely on labour. If the conditions for further development of a viable
and service-oriented retail and wholesale trade are met, significant
numbers of new jobs could be created. This can help to offset
reductions of employment due to structural and technological change.
As a service-oriented industry retail and distribution will, however,
continue to rely on labour as a major production factor.
3. In the European
Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment of
1993, a goal was set to create 15 million new jobs by the end of the
century. Today, three years later, the European Union is still far
away from this goal. 18 million people are unemployed in the Member
States and the prospects for a fast improvement of the employment
situation do not look good.
4. Growth is essential
for job creation, but economic growth alone has proved unable to solve
the European unemployment problem. Technology-related productivity
developments and insufficient investment in new production within the
European Union are some of the reasons which have led to a lower than
predicted growth in jobs. Some Member States have implemented policy
decisions which have reduced the purchasing power of consumers as well
as public sector investments. High unemployment in the Member States
has created insecurity about the future, with a negative impact on
consumption. Overall, there has been a slower than predicted growth of
consumption, in some cases even a decline. This has had a direct
impact on employment in wholesale and retail trade. A favourable
development of employment in commerce and distribution requires a
job-intensive growth and policies which promote the development of
consumption, including policies which are designed to reduce interest
rates.
5. Having grown
strongly from 1985 to 1990, employment in wholesale and retail trade
in Europe is now showing signs of decline. The prospects for wholesale
and retail trade to be able to retain present employment levels and to
create new jobs will depend on whether there is an increase in
purchasing power which is large enough to offset an employment
decline. An increase in general economic growth and purchasing power,
as well as growing consumer expectations, can lead to a change in and
development of new services in commerce.
6. To promote economic
growth and to create new employment in the industrialised countries,
including the preservation and creation of jobs in the commerce
sector, the European Union and its Member States need to take the lead
in reviving domestic demand across the OECD countries. As part of that
process, the trans-border infrastructure investment projects proposed
in the 1993 European White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and
Employment need to be implemented within the framework of the EU
budget.
7. Globalisation and
regional integration, coupled to important developments in technology
and communications have intensified the internationalisation process
in commerce. Cross-border investments by retailers and wholesalers
influence the competitive environments, enterprise structures, store
formats and operating concepts, with implications for employment.
Depending on existing structures of wholesale and retail trade, the
employment effects of this process differ from one European country to
another.
8 Retail trade in many
European city centre areas has changed considerably during the last 10
to 20 years. This underlines the need to promote the development of
inner cities. At the same time many small towns in Europe see their
retail service withering away. The effects of this trend on the
existing retail trade, on the environment, on service levels and on
the municipal economy should be assessed.
9. The development of
new sales channels that make advanced use of information networks can
have an important impact on future employment developments. To this
end, it may be useful that EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet will discuss
matters related to the Information Society, and in this context the
introduction of the issue of home shopping, electronic shopping,
computer assisted selling and other use of information networks as
well as the Commission's new Green Paper on "Living and Working
in the Information Society - People First" and the impact of
these developments on employment, as a new item in their ongoing
social dialogue.
10. After the issuing
of the 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, a
series of policy actions has been proposed to increase
competitiveness, strengthen economic growth and turn that growth into
more jobs in the Member States. The European Council meeting in Essen
in December 1993 endorsed the approach by identifying five key areas
of action, and the social partners were called upon to fully
participate in the employment-promoting process.
11. The high and
persistent unemployment in Europe underlines the need for urgent
concrete action both on European and national levels to safeguard
existing jobs and to create new employment opportunities. Accepting
that there will be differences between the approaches to employment
issues of the two social partners, EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet support
the employment-promoting efforts of the European Union. They welcome
the renewed initiative by the President of the European Commission to
engage the Member States and the social partners in a strong effort
for employment, through the Confidence Pact which he proposed in 1996.
12. The Essen
recommendations and the Confidence Pact are general in their nature,
applying across the economic sectors. The Social Partners for commerce
emphasise the need to take into account the specific characteristics
of retail and wholesale trade as a consumer-oriented services industry
in setting up the multi-annual employment programmes. To reach the
expected employment effects, full attention must be given to the
economic sectors with the greatest employment potential, particularly
the service sectors which include both distribution and commerce.
13. Employment growth
in Europe is expected to take place particularly in small and medium
size enterprises. In commerce, enterprises employ on average 4,5
persons. If there is to be any significant employment growth in Europe
in the years to come, much of it will have to originate in the
services sectors, including commerce, where the number of small and
medium size enterprises is particularly large.
14. Like many other
service sectors, retail and distribution provide many different kinds
of employment opportunities. In most European countries, the
proportion of part-time jobs of total employment in commerce has been
growing. This can open up welcome opportunities particularly in those
countries where increasing numbers of people have sought entry into
the labour market. On the other hand, it is equally important that
commerce is able to continue to provide sufficient numbers of
full-time jobs.
15. Realising that
different enterprises will select different strategies also in the
future, the European social partners in commerce underline the need
for increased attention to vocational training that is directed
expressly at commerce occupations, as this is essential to preserve a
service-oriented and thus employment-promoting development alternative
for commerce enterprises. It is also important to provide further
education and training possibilities for workers already employed in
commerce, many of whom are women and many of whom have a short general
education background and lack a commerce-specific vocational training,
not forgetting the skilled and high-educated employees.
16. EuroCommerce and
Euro-Fiet agree that the creation of employment is one of the most
important challenges for commerce and distribution. Taking into
account that this sector will continue to play a major role as a
provider of employment, it is necessary that commerce be given full
and satisfactory consideration in European employment policies and
decisions. To this end the social partners for commerce wish to be
fully consulted on all European employment-related actions.
17. The social partners
in commerce are committed to working with the Commission and the
governments of Member States, to promote employment in retail and
wholesale trade. The social partners stress the importance and
usefulness of their social dialogue for promoting dialogue,
co-operation and understanding between employers and workers and their
organisations, which is essential to secure a stable development of
wholesale and retail trade in Europe, preserving and promoting
employment and viable enterprises, and call on the European Commission
to continue its active support for this social dialogue.
18. Today, the European
social dialogue between Euro-Fiet and EuroCommerce is increasingly
focusing on employment. In March, 1995 they launched a special working
group on employment. Since then, a major survey on employment creation
has been launched, supported by the European Commission. The working
group has also held a series of consultations with the Commission
concerning the preparations of a Green Paper on Commerce and
Distribution.
19. The Social Partners
for commerce support the Essen recommendation of promoting
occupational education and training. This must also apply to the
commerce sector. More emphasis on vocational training in commerce was
already called for by the commerce social partners in 1988 when they
agreed on a joint Memorandum on training in European retail trade.
EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet draw attention to this Memorandum and to
the subsequent efforts by the social partners to promote vocational
education and training programmes for commerce occupations in Europe.
20. Universal general
education and broad-based training are prerequisites for entering into
stable employment in commerce and for further skills development. In
most European countries, too little attention has been given to
providing vocational education and training opportunities for young
people who head for wholesale and retail trade occupations. In many
cases, this has caused a lack of skilled labour, leading commerce
enterprises to select less labour-intensive business strategies than
they may have done, had there been more qualified staff available.
21. Also workers
already employed in commerce need training opportunities to preserve
and develop their professional qualifications and to retain their
employment and employability. Many commercial workers have only a
short general education background and more often than not they lack a
commerce-specific vocational training. Vocational training for
commerce occupations should therefore be a focal point for the
employment-promoting measures that are directed at particularly
vulnerable groups on the European labour market.
22. It is predicted
that a growing part of consumer demand will continue to be focused on
services. Thus, the development of services components in the
functions of the commerce and distribution sector will become an
important feature from the viewpoint of employment. There are already
experiences from such developments to be assessed, particularly
concerning private and public services provided by retail stores in
rural areas. EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet recognise a need for further
study of the impact on employment of developing new wholesale and
retail trade services and expect that their joint research project
will make available examples of measures that have been taken in this
respect.
23. The European social
partners in commerce underline that dialogue can be an important
instrument for them to contribute to promoting employment in retail
and wholesale trade. The social partners should be well placed to
retain European wholesale and retail trade as an efficient industry
that will continue to respond well to changes in consumer needs
expectations while offering secure and high-quality jobs for large
numbers of Europeans.
24. The European
Commission has announced the publication before the end of 1996 of a
Green Paper on Commerce and Distribution dealing with future
development prospects of retail and wholesale trade in the Community.
As this report has not yet been made available to the social partners
in commerce, EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet do not find it possible to
forward concrete and detailed suggestions for measures to be taken to
promote a favourable employment development in European wholesale and
retail trade. EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet do, however, consider it to
be important that a broad discussion about the employment effects of
developments in European commerce be initiated upon the publication of
the Green Paper. To launch such a discussion, EuroCommerce and
Euro-Fiet suggest that the European Commission together with the
European social partners in commerce, within the framework of the
social dialogue, convene a major conference in 1997 to allow the
social partners in the European Union and its Member States to start
the process of identifying measures which should be taken to protect
and promote employment in retail and wholesale trade in Europe.
25. Accepting that there will be major
differences in the way that the social partners look at the measures
which should be employed to promote a favourable employment
development in commerce, EuroCommerce and Euro-Fiet draw attention to
the following subjects that could be considered, among others:
|
- Initiating and supporting
urban renewal projects in European city centre areas, with the
aim of creating viable and competitive zones for shopping,
entertainment and cultural activities, where high-level
services are produced through labour-intensive activities and
which are easily accessible both through public and private
transport;
- Producing and providing
facilities in city centres and in urban residential areas for
service-oriented retail trade enterprises;
- Adding different kinds of
public and private services, including postal and social
services to be provided by retail stores in areas where
retailing services only are not viable;
- Increased attention to
vocational training and education which is directed expressly
at the specific needs of commerce, as this is necessary to
preserve a service-oriented and thus employment-promoting
development. |
