Employment Week 2008 - How can Europe adapt to change

Demographic change and globalisation are transforming the face of the European labour market. Adapting to these changes is paramount to ensuring growth and competitiveness and is widely seen as an opportunity for development, rather than an obstacle. As change affects companies and the workforce alike, how are European economies and enterprises coping? The European Commission has played its role in promoting a balance between change and security, but what is happening in reality? What can we learn from companies and from the member states' experience?

EU officials, business leaders, social partners and hundreds of European employment practitioners will gather in Brussels on 11-12 June 2008 during Employment Week to share their opinion on these key questions. For the last 15 years Employment Week has been the leading forum for EU stakeholders to meet and engage in constructive dialogue on current and future employment trends, policies and initiatives.

From its inception in 1993, Employment Week has advanced from a briefing session model, which provided mostly one-way top-down dialogue, from EU officials to delegates, to a highly engaging event with multi-stakeholder panel discussions, question & answer sessions and practical case-studies material available to delegates. The evolved model of Employment Week allows to foster communication and exchange of forward-thinking ideas between political decision makers, business leaders, social partners, the civil society, academia and hundreds of practitioners from the 27 member states.

Under the general conference theme 'Adapting to change - making Europe a prosperous labour market' Employment Week 2008 will explore the issues surrounding globalisation, flexibility of the workforce and the impacts of Europe's demographic changes on employment. A wide range of topics will feature in the two-day programme, including mobility and migration, competitiveness and quality of jobs, active aging, enterprise and job creation, flexicurity, youth and employment, life-long learning and training, managing change and diversity.

Flexicurity remains very high on the EU agenda and will be given special attention at Employment Week this year. The conference will look at how flexicurity has been implemented in the member states, with a particular focus on the success stories so far, and how positively employers and workers are responding to the model.

Geographical mobility and migration is another hot topic for discussion at the event. Speakers will look at how employers overcome the barriers of mobility and how they should tackle the obstacles that exist in hiring workers from outside the EU. Furthermore, the session will analyse whether member states should operate a selective immigration policy by attracting a mix of high-skilled and low-skilled workforce.

Mr Vladimir äpidla, the EU Commissioner for Employment, and Niklaus van der Pas, Director General of DG Employment from the European Commission, will address the Employment Week audience. Many high profile speakers from the business world and experts in the European employment will soon join the list of prestigious speakers.

Employment Week 2008 will take place at Management Centre Europe in Brussels on 11-12 June 2008.