We must invest in jobs for people, says Parliament
MEPs call for investment measures to tap the potential for jobs and growth in the green economy, health and social services and the new technologies, in a resolution passed on Thursday, They welcome the Commission's recent policy paper on a job-rich recovery, which advocates setting minimum wages to help the working poor.
"What Europeans want is jobs. That is what they are most worried about and that is where we must act. There are two particularly important proposals in the Commission's employment package: setting decent minimum wages to fight poverty and social dumping and creating a European Youth Guarantee to get young people into work", Pervenche Berès (S&D, FR), the author of the resolution, said during the debate.
More than six million jobs have been lost in the EU since the financial and economic crisis began in 2008 and 17.6 million new jobs need to be filled to meet the target set in the EU 2020 Strategy, stresses Parliament in its resolution, passed by 394 votes to 94, with 114 abstentions.
It calls for targeted investment to tap the potential for creating jobs and growth in the green economy, the health and social services sector and information and communication technologies. It urges EU governments to commit to a "European Investment Package" before the end of 2012 to "push Europe out of the crisis.
MEPs also welcome the Commission's policy paper of 18 April 2012 that highlights the benefits of setting minimum wages at member state level to fight in-work poverty and social dumping.
SMES and microenterprises provide over two thirds of private-sector jobs in the EU, say MEPs, who ask the Commission and the member states to boost investment in these areas, in particular through public procurement and access to finance.
To tackle the high level of youth unemployment, Parliament again calls for a system of European Youth Guarantees to provide a job or training for every young person who has been out of work for four months. It also wants a Quality Framework for Traineeships to ensure that interns learn from their experience and are not exploited.
Procedure: oral question with resolution