Unemployment in Europe - causes and remedies
Doc. 7651
23 September 1996
OPINION[1]
Rapporteur: Mr CUMMINGS, United Kingdom, Socialist Group
1. Introduction
1. Europe's countryside accounts for 85% of its total surface and is home to more than half of its population. It is the source of most of Europe's food, much of its timber, minerals and other raw materials. The natural and man-made European countryside, in its diversity, offers beauty, peace and recreation to Europeans and to visitors coming from other continents.
2. The present opinion to the comprehensive report presented by Mr Bloetzer on behalf of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development, argues that policies aiming at exploiting in a sustainable manner the rich resources of rural areas for different purposes will have a favourable effect on employment. In the future more emphasis should be given to the development of local transformation and marketing capacities and to the use of new communication technologies in rural areas. A diversified rural development policy integrating agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry as privileged users of the countryside would benefit rural as well as urban centres and society as a whole. The central issue in this new political initiative must be the development of human resources, the fostering of entrepreneurship and of local initiatives.
2. Revival of rural economies
3. There was a time - before transport systems fully developed and trade became more universal and centralised - when each rural community had its own diverse local economy. Food would be produced and processed; non-food products from agriculture, fisheries and forestry covered a great range of needs; goods would be made and repaired locally by a range of craftsmen; services would be provided locally. Changes since then have tended to discourage local processing of food, timber or other raw materials, to replace the rural craftsmen by distant urban industries, and to cause services to move into larger towns. These developments have also resulted in a brain-drain from rural regions. Thus, the local economies of many rural areas have become narrow and relatively weak, with an overdependence on economic decisions made in distant cities.
4. Many aspects of our modern society (new values, social and environmental concerns, occupation of the land, etc) have given rural development higher priority than in the recent past. There is a need for a comprehensive political framework in favour of rural development. This is why the Assembly has proposed to draw up a European Charter for Rural Areas with the objective of maintaining and strengthening the economic, ecological, social and cultural functions of the countryside through concerted political action in all relevant sectors. The following few paragraphs aim at focusing on some sectors where adequate stimulation packages could create new rural employment.
3. Communications
5. The new communication technologies and infrastructures, like Internet, have made numerous jobs independent of the place they are performed. These technologies also give access to knowledge, consultancy services and to the world market. Rural society, or individuals living in rural areas, can thus offer their products, skills and services to a broader market. Initiatives like "telecottages" or the decentralisation of services within companies or within public administrations must be supported by appropriate policy measures. Thus, in 1990, the Assembly voted a recommendation on the revival of the countryside by means of information technology (Recommendation 1122 (1990), Doc. 6160).
4. Food
6. The production of food is a vital function of rural society. The recent alarms regarding the health risks for consumers or the negative effects on the environment stemming from certain intensive production practices have resulted in new demands for quality food products and regional specialities. A decentralisation of food processing, packaging and marketing functions would bring new employment to rural areas (local value-added). In the case of fish and meat products, this would reduce transport volumes, costs and the resulting pollution.
7. Food production is the backbone of many rural regions, in particular among central, southern and eastern European countries. Europe has a considerable food production potential and could become a major world exporter of food products in a medium-term perspective. The need is enormous - according to FAO, a 75% increase to feed the world population 30 years from now - but the buying power of those in need is often weak.
5. Non-food production
8. Textiles, pharmaceuticals, building materials, furniture and a number of chemicals and combustibles can be made from plants, trees or other renewable raw materials cultivated or harvested in rural or coastal regions. The partial or total replacement of the polluting use of fossil raw materials in industry and the energy sector would give the countryside new production tasks and thus create new jobs. Some of the processing capacities must also be decentralised and would again result in reduced transport volumes and costs.
9. Many rural regions may whish to increase their woodland and thus create long-term employment in the forestry and forest-industry sector.
6. Minerals
10. The small-scale extraction of sand, clay and other minerals can have a beneficial employment-creating function in rural areas. Sand and clay can also be processed locally for the making of ceramics or bricks and even glass. Most of the minerals are only extracted in rural areas then transported to bigger transformation industries. Some of these, however, are important employers of the rural population - in many cases on a part-time basis, with farm activities as the other employment.
7. Services
11. Apart from the use of new communication technologies to satisfy different demands, such as for banking, insurance, etc, there is a need to rethink rural infrastructure policies. Country dwellers must have the same access to medical care, schools and other social and cultural services as urban citizens. Such new orientational policies will maintain or increase rural employment. Volunteers, who would take on responsibilities for creches, domestic help or nursing homes for the elderly and disabled, should be compensated for their work and be given access to the necessary technical equipment. Road maintenance could be given as part-time work to farmers, etc. An increasingly important sector of services concerns tourism and local gastronomy. In many countries, successful initiatives of wine and gastronomic fairs and festivals have brought new life to entire regions and has promoted local cultural (music, costumes, dances, housing) and gastronomic traditions. Such developments could revive market towns traditionally providing important services and employment for their rural hinterland. Their future well-being is essential for the vitality of the surrounding villages. Tax relief should be given to village shops offering essential community services.
12. Leisure activities, such as fishing, hunting, walking, skiing, cycling, horse riding, golfing, etc, attract an increasing number of people to spend their holidays in rural surroundings. The creation of nature reserves, or sites of special scientific or historic interest, and areas of outstanding natural beauty, have added interesting products to the countryside as an area for recreation and learning. The necessary maintenance work creates new employment for countryside stewardship and a range of other activities surround these new "products".
8. Rural poverty
13. Employment in the primary sectors (agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry) has decreased globally, although aquaculture in some coastal regions has experienced a boom. In the European Union countries alone, 205,000 full-time jobs in agriculture were lost in 1995. Without incentives to create alternative employment, the jobless can either stay on and try to cope in rural areas or leave for the cities. Rural poverty is hidden in many ways as most people are able to sustain themselves in the countryside. They may undertake pluri-activity in a number of part-time seasonal jobs. People who have never registered for benefits are not "unemployed". In many cases, young people in their late 20s and 30s are still living in tied accommodation with their farming parents. And so the culture of coping and not making a fuss about things disguises a sort of deep-rooted but hidden poverty. Initiatives must be taken to improve the present situation in many rural regions. It is also important to improve statistics on rural employment and unemployment.
9. Rural entrepreneurs: job creators
14. The training and backing-up of rural entrepreneurs is one of the most important issues in rural development strategies. Other strategies, such as niche production, the creation of local processing or marketing capacities, policies for direct and indirect aid and infrastructure policies are dependent on local entrepreneuring skills. Small rural enterprises have an important job-creating function and are flexible enough to take on new production or services if the market demands it.
10. Part-time work
15. Work in the primary sectors will always have seasonal variations and the seasonal demand for labour will vary. This must find its expression in policies for the maintenance or creation of employment by encouraging or facilitating part-time, seasonal work which could be complementary to other rural activities or to variations among the primary sectors (combination of fishing and farming or forestry and farming, as well as part-time employment in industry or tourism activities, etc). Flexible working hours will also be a key issue for the service sector and for the creation of co-operative voluntary structures in this and other fields.
11. The European Charter for Rural Areas
16. Your Rapporteur introduced this opinion by referring to the need for a global, political approach to rural development, which is contained in the proposed European Charter for Rural Areas. It therefore seems logical to end the opinion by referring to one of the policy guidelines appended to the proposed Charter dealing with employment and incomes:
"If rural communities are to stay alive, rural people need satisfactory levels of income. This requires a variety of attractive employment opportunities, and not just in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture or fisheries. These should, however, be tailored to the specific features of regions and localities. They include:
a. giving priority to those activities and initiatives that are geared towards endogenous development and above all are managed and financed by the rural community itself;
b. fostering the diversification and adaptation of production structures, especially in regions dominated by a particular economic branch or sector where the risk of recession is high;
c. fostering multiple activity and the harmonious integration of different countryside activities;
d. fostering the production of goods and services when it enhances the rural communities' special non-manual and manual skills and making full use of any under-used resources (timber, water, stone, land or the production of renewable sources of energy);
e. creating high added value of small and medium-sized businesses by means of technology transfers, tax relief, advice, financial aid, etc."
12. Conclusions
17. To sum up, the creation of jobs in rural areas requires:
- a policy for diversified rural development;
- the fostering of rural entrepreneurship and support to local initiatives;
- more emphasis on the introduction and use of new communication technologies in rural areas;
- decentralisation of value-added and input functions for the primary sectors (processing capacities, co-operatives, etc);
- increased use of renewable raw materials for industry and the energy sector;
- encouragement of part-time work and volunteer co-operatives.
Reporting Committee: Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (Doc. 7620).
Committee for opinion: Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.
Origin: Doc. 7365 and Reference No. 2089 of 29 May 1996.
Draft opinion approved on 23 September 1996.
Secretary to the committee: Mr Lervik.
[1] By the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.