PURPOSE : Employment Guidelines for 2002.
COMMUNITY MEASURE : Council Decision 2002/177/EC on guidelines for Member States' employment policies for the year 2002.
CONTENT : The Employment Guidelines for 2002 incorporate certain changes to the previous guidelines, with particular reference to the following:
- the Stockholm European Council agreed to complement the Lisbon targets for employment rates to be reached by 2010 with intermediate targets for employment rates by 2005 and a new target for 2010 for increasing the employment rate among older people;
- the quality of work is included as a general objective in the employment guidelines. It involves both the job characteristics and the wider labour market context, and should be promoted through action across all the pillars;
- the guidelines reflect the fact that the modernisation of labour markets and labour mobility need to be encouraged to allow greater adaptability to change by breaking down existing barriers;
- there is a stronger focus on modernising work organisation, lifelong learning and increasing the employment rate, particularly among women. Member States must make efforts to make visible a gender perspective across all the pillars;
- Member States must strengthen their efforts toward the use of information and communication technology for learning;
- partnership at all levels should be encouraged, including with the social partners, regional and local authorities and representatives of civil society so that they can contribute, in their respective fields of responsibility, to promoting a high level of employment;
- there is a need to consolidate and develop further comparable indicators to make it possible to assess the implementation and impact of the guidelines and to refine the targets which they contain and facilitate the identification and exchange of best practice.�