HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : Gordon Brown unveils UK employment action plan [October 1997]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 13 October 1997.

The UK’s Employment Action Plan to tackle UK and European employment problems was launched today by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown.  He talked about a new European third way to get Europe back to work by combining economic efficiency with social inclusion.

The Chancellor said:

“With 18 million people out of work in the EU, no-one can be complacent about getting Europe back to work. We need to build on the best practice in Member States to make Europe’s labour markets the engines of high employment.

“We need to find a new third way between rampant free-market economics and stifling over regulation, combining economic efficiency and social inclusion.”

The Action Plan, part of the  Getting Europe Back to Work’ initiative the Chancellor launched in June, was discussed at the ECOFIN meeting in Luxembourg today. It calls on the EU to focus its efforts in five broad areas. Those areas are:

• promoting economic growth and stability;
• investing in human capital;
• helping people from welfare into work;
• improving the workings of markets; and
• through these and other actions, creating a fair and  inclusive society.

The Plan takes forward the remit from the Amsterdam European Council to exchange best practice on employment policy between Member States of the European Union.

It sets out the policies the UK Government sees as necessary to tackle unemployment and raise employment domestically, and which could form the basis of action in the European Union context. It considers which employment policies are working well in the UK and those which need changing.  The Plan notes:

“The Government is clear that we now need to set a new agenda for employability, growth, job creating flexibility and inclusion in Europe.  Employability means the development of skills and adaptable workforces in which all those capable of work are encouraged to develop the skills, knowledge, technology and adaptability to enable them to enter and remain in employment throughout their working lives.”