1.   The situation of employment continues to be very serious in Europe. Consequences are tragic for a lot of people, for families, for professional life and for society as a whole.

2.   There are no miracle cures:

• economic growth is necessary but will not be sufficient;
• training and improvement of qualifications are necessary but not sufficient to recover full employment.

3.   Professional and managerial staff, who had long been relatively less affected, have in 1992-1994 experienced a sudden and major worsening of unemployment. Today the situation is becoming better in some countries, but the level of unemployment among qualified professional and managerial staff remains high.  

4.   To make significant progress we need real commitment and efforts of all actors, both in the private and in the public sector; by public authorities, economic and social partners; at microeconomic and macroeconomic levels; and at all local, national, sectoral and European levels.

5.   Since the 1993 White Paper on "growth, competitiveness, employment", new emphasis has been given to employment, at European level, with the "employment pact of confidence", the chapter on employment in the Amsterdam treaty, and the Luxembourg «jobs summit». At the beginning of 1998, further positive steps were undertaken: national action plans following common European guidelines were set up with the involvement of the social partners. Nevertheless, economic policies continue to be neither sufficiently linked with employment policies nor are they co-ordinated enough at European level. Moreover, they remain dominated by too restrictive monetary objectives. Under these conditions, the future of the single currency created on 1 ^st January 1999 could be seriously jeopardised if dangers for negative effects on employment are not tackled. Not only stability must be preserved but sustainable growth and job creation must be achieved. To this end, co-ordinated European initiatives are particularly important, since at national level the room of manoeuvre has become more limited.

6.   Against this background, the 6th General Assembly of EUROCADRES, stresses the need to implement the following objectives:

• A European strategy must be built on common employment policies, and economic policies must be made more coherent and co-ordinated at European level. A follow-up system of national employment programmes and methods should be created at the EU-level in order to identify best practices.
• Investment programmes concerning infrastructures, major communication networks, and research-development must be strengthened.
• Public services must have the necessary means at their disposal to exercise their roles vis-à-vis both individuals and companies efficiently.
• Industrial policies must be set up in order to promote a network of firms to further their international competitiveness but, at the same time, keeping their decision making centres in Europe. They must deal with company mergers and with sectoral changes, including their technical, economic and social dimensions.
• The European dimension of the «labour market» must be more precisely taken into account. Further to the proposals of the high level panel on free movement of persons, the Commission's action plan must be improved and implemented, in particular:
  • by better use of follow-up and intervention instruments such as EURES, and making them closer to persons concerned;
  • by renewed efforts to guarantee mutual recognition of qualifications and diplomas;
  • by measures to overcome remaining obstacles to mobility in the area of social protection.
• The importance of improving «employability», «adaptability» and «equal opportunity» suggested by the «employment guidelines» must be linked with the need of improvement of forward looking management of jobs and qualifications (at local, company and sectoral levels). This should lead to concrete policies for continuous training. EUROCADRES emphasised this point already in its Resolution on «Vocational Training for Professional and Managerial Staff» that was adopted by its 4 ^th General Assembly in 1996. EUROCADRES plays an active role in the field of continuous training of employees, such as the Leonardo project FORHINV. New initiatives should be developed.
• Processes of reorganising and reducing working time are essential to improve the quality of life and foster job creation. They must be developed at all levels and take into account the diversity of situations. Against the background of the general reduction of working time in Europe, data and observations from experiences on the reorganisation of work and the reduction of working time, or of the development of job-creating projects must be collected and disseminated.

7.   Professional and managerial staff play an important role in organising the work of other employees, either directly for those under their responsibility, or indirectly, if they hold functional or specialist positions. There is no single way to organise work. The many possibilities must be analysed with a view of avoiding short-term options and stressing those which promote economic efficiency and social progress. This is part of the European management model.

8.   Inside and outside companies, number of initiatives and innovations may lead to new and useful activities particularly in the area of environmental quality, new information and communication technology and in social services. These potential capacities of jobs must be developed.

9.   In order for this to happen, the social partners must participate actively, and professional and managerial staff must design and lead processes of change. To do so, P&MS must be prepared, trained and given the necessary freedom.

10. In addition, EUROCADRES will work towards improving information on the situation of P&MS employment and will act to increase it. In particular:

• Better statistical information is needed on the situation of P&MS employment. Collection of data by job categories and qualifications should be expanded and studies should be conducted to draw lessons therefrom. Further, it is important to follow and plan for future employment trends.
• Current statistics show that P&MS have an excessive work load all across Europe. Further to the EUROCADRES 1997 symposium, initiatives have to be developed in order to handle and reduce P&MS working time and work load, directly or through collective bargaining, such as:
  • reaching a better knowledge of real P&MS working time,
  • fixing contractual working time and compensating exceptional overtime by time-off,
  • developing work organisation facilitating professional autonomy and delegation,
  • allowing free choice of working time in order to facilitate balance between activities (professional activities, training, social and family life ...),
  • seeking out various and appropriated ways for reducing working time and work load (four days week, days off, long term leave, part-time work, time account, early and gradual retirement, ...),
  • collecting and sharing information about best practices, in particular through the internet,
  • putting an end to the very broad exclusion of P&MS by the European working time Directive.
• Programmes should be developed to better identify the impediments for the access of women to managerial positions and their promotion as well as to undertake actions to overcome them.
• National action plans for employment must deal more precisely with the diversity in the levels of qualifications and in occupations. The organisations representing P&MS must be recognised as partners in promoting employment on the national level.

11.   Together with its member organisations, EUROCADRES, as a European social partner is fully committed to support and to conduct initiatives needed to mobilise capacities that bring about technical and social innovation and thus promote employment