ILAB - Office of International Relations (OIR) - U.S.

U.S. — EU Working Group

The U.S. —EU Working Group on Employment and Labor-Related Issues was established in 1996. Over the years it has sponsored a number of meetings, workshops and conferences that draw from governments, trade union organizations, employer organizations and businesses, academia, NGOs and other interested private sector institutions. These meetings provide an opportunity for exchanging ideas and information on employment-and labor-related issues. Recent Working Group sponsored events include:

US-EU Roundtable on "Skills for Growth and Jobs in the Economic Recovery and Beyond": 45 participants attended this discussion on May 28-29, 2009 in Washington, DC. It began with a discussion on the state of EU and U.S. labor markets in the economic downturn, overall economic recovery efforts in the EU and U.S., and specific workforce development strategies being developed and implemented to respond to the economic downturn. The second day of the roundtable focused on how policy and practice related to anticipating and matching labor market needs and skills demands can respond to the challenges raised by the economic crisis. The dialogue surfaced a number of common themes across the U.S. and EU, including a broader demographic impact of the downturn, challenges to the capacity of the public workforce system, the importance of skills matching and skills training during the downturn and the role of social partners in these efforts.

US-EU Roundtable on "Youth Employment: New Challenges in Knowledge-based economies": Over 60 participants attended US-EU roundtable discussions on youth employment January 28-29, 2008, in Brussels, Belgium. Discussions focused on the challenges and solutions to preparing youth to enter the knowledge-based economy. Topics included a general overview and comparison between the youth employment challenges faced by the U.S. and EU; policies and strategies for raising youth employability; insights on improving the transition from education to employment; and strategies to promote youth entrepreneurship. The dialogue surfaced a number of common themes across the U.S. and EU including the need to stem labor shortages due to the aging workforce, focusing policies and resources on reconnecting school dropouts to education and training, increasing public/private partnerships promoting skill acquisition and exposure to the workplace, and increasing awareness and training opportunities for entrepreneurship and self-employment.

Read more about the Working Group and Working Group sponsored events.