Job Mobilities in Europe
Relevance, Consequences, and New Challenges
October, 17th 2008, 9:30-13:00
in the European Parliament, Brussels
Due to the widely believed positive effects of job-related mobility, such as the fostering
of innovations, economic growth and European cohesion, great efforts have been undertaken to
enhance mobility. One of the prominent examples is the “European Year of Workers’
Mobility 2006.”
Nevertheless the mobility of the European workforce has been repeatedly evaluated as relatively
low. A recent study on job-related spatial mobility of all types - and not only on workforce
migration - comes to striking results: almost half of the employees in Europe are mobile for
job reasons or have been mobile during their professional life. Workers are sedentary but still
highly mobile because they adopt different strategies to meet mobility demands. Europeans seldom
migrate, but they commute daily or weekly over long distances, live in long-distance relationships
for job reasons, fulfil foreign assignments or undertake frequent business trips in Europe or
worldwide.
Based on representative data collected in six European countries the papers presented during
the conference analyse the current mobility flows and the explanation of the corresponding
consequences for society, economy, demographic development, gender equality, and quality of
life in Europe. The findings of the study identify new challenges for the economy and suggest
a change of political strategies directed to job mobility.
Programme
9:30 – 10:00
Welcome and Opening
Sepp Kusstatscher
Member of the European Parliament
Johannes Klumpers
Head of Unit, L.4 Scientific Culture and Gender Questions
DG Research
European Commission
10:00 – 11:00
Sedentary or Mobile?
The Mobility of the European Workforce
Prof. Dr. Norbert F. Schneider
Project Coordinator
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Commented by Benjamin Holst
Confederation of Danish Employers
Member of Social Affairs Committee of BUSINESSEUROPE
and by Germana Di Domenico
Policy officer, Unit D.3 Employment Services and Mobility
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
European Commission
Diskussion
11:00 – 11:45
Rising Mobility, Increasing Inequality?
Economic and Social Consequences of Mobility
Prof. Dr. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk
University of Warsaw
Commented by Dr. Maria Jepsen
Head of Department Research
European Trade Union Institute (ETUI – REHS)
Diskussion
11:45 - 12:00
Break
12:00 – 12:45
Mobile, Single, Stressed?
The Effects of Mobility on Family Life and Individual Well-Being
Prof. Dr. Gerardo Meil
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Commented by Dr. Krzysztof Iszkowski
Socio-economic Analyst, Unit E.1 Social and Demographic Analysis
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities
European Commission
Diskussion
12:45 - 13:00
Final Discussion and
Closing Remarks
Sepp Kusstatscher
Member of the European Parliament
podium, with Prof. Dr. Michel Hubert,
Germana Di Domenico,
Benjamin Holst,
Sepp Kusstatscher,
Johannes Klumpers,
Prof. Dr. Norbert F. Schneider,
Prof. Dr. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk,
Prof. Dr. Gerardo Meil (from left)
Sepp Kusstatscher (Member of the European Parliament,
host of the conference)
Prof. Dr. Michel Hubert (Job Mob, Brussels / Belgium, moderation),
Johannes Klumpers (Head of Unit L.4, DG Research, European Commission),
Prof. Dr. Norbert F. Schneider (Job Mob, Mainz / Germany, project coordinator)
Prof. Dr. Michel Hubert (Job Mob, Brussels / Belgium, moderation),
Prof. Dr. Norbert F. Schneider (Job Mob, Mainz / Germany, project coordinator)
Prof. Dr. Anna Giza-Poleszczuk (Job Mob, Warsaw / Poland),
Prof. Dr. Gerardo Meil (Job Mob, Madrid / Spain)
conference, podium and audience
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