The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship/Labour Market Observatory, which was responsible for preparing the Committees work on the subject, adopted the section opinion on 10 March 2009. The rapporteur was Marian KRZAKLEWSKI.
EESC believes that the issue of employment in the European Union should be considered in its entirety because it affects all age groups. This is especially true in the context of the current crisis.
The European Economic and Social Committee calls on the Commission to specifically address the issue of older workers on the labour market and notes that it should enhance and strengthen the implementation of the regulations concerning age in the Employment Equality Directive 2000/78/EC by setting out a European programme and Support Framework for the Employment of Older Workers.
This opinion recalled Cedefop's analysis of the most recent European survey on continuing vocational training revealing that the participation of older people in CVT is significantly lower than that of young people, and that this is true across practically all the Member States.
Reference: Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the situation of ageing workers faced with industrial change providing support and managing age diversity in sectors and companies (own-initiative opinion) In Official Journal of the European Union, C228, 22.9.2009, p. 24-31