Complementarities between urban and rural areas in promoting ...

COMPLEMENTARITIES BETWEEN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN PROMOTING EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL INCLUSIONPART 2Speakers’ presentationsSESSION 1Promoting Employment in Urban and Rural Areas:some case studiesModerator: Matthias Schulze-Böing■ Measures to tackle long-term unemployment in urban and rural areas:examples of good practice in GermanyMatthias Schulze-Böing, Head of Department for Employment, Statistics and European Affairs,Municipality of Offenbach (D), and Chair of the CEMR Committee on Employment & Social AffairsThe article provides an overview from theGerman perspective on measures to deal withlong-term unemployment and presents someexamples on how local authorities tackle thisproblem. In Germany, local authorities have overthe last 25 years faced increasing social welfareexpenses, which comprise around 40% of theannual budget. This in turn has resulted in anumber of innovative local employment programmes.A few examples of best practices arepresented. Nevertheless, it is concluded that it isnecessary to bring these different practices closertogether in order to create networks ofcooperation between local authorities.A special feature of the German structure of thewelfare state is the so-called dual system. Itconsists on the one hand of a centralised administrationfor labour market policy with labouroffices in all regions, which are run by federalagencies with labour offices in all regions state.Local authorities on the other hand are responsiblefor social welfare issues. Small cities, whichare hit by high rates of unemployment, canalso have a high percentage of social welfarerecipients. Severe financial problems are often aconsequence. As in the case of the City of Offenbacham Main, experience under this social systemcan lead to near bankruptcy. About 40% ofpublic expenditure by local authorities is currentlyspent on social welfare amenities.This situation was one reason for the localauthorities to start local employment initiativesin the late 1980s and in the 1990s. More than400,000 people in Germany are today employedby local job creation schemes set up by localauthorities. These are mainly funded by localbudgets, although in part refunded by the EuropeanSocial Fund. Another estimated 400,000people take part in job creation schemes providedby the local authorities.Local employment policy is today an integralelement of employment and labour market policyin Germany; some term it as the second pillar ofGermany’s employment and labour market policy.Many say that most of the important innovationin employment policy in Germany actually comesfrom this second pillar.The European Employment Strategy is consideredto be a good framework of reference for thelocal level. One of the basic principles is earlyintervention to prevent unemployment. Employmentpolicies should also be inclusive. Theyshould include all members of the potentialworkforce and they should enhance the functionof the labour market through measures that providea flexible response to change. The EuropeanEmployment Strategy is comprised of four mainpillars:■ employability;■ entrepreneurship;■ adaptability;■ equal opportunities.— 11 —