Report Seminar ‘Progressive Policies for Growth and Employment’

A recent report from the ILO states that persistent recessionary conditions in Europe have significantly reduced job creation and the opportunities for job seekers to return to employment quickly. For the period 2014-2016 unemployment rate is forecasted to remain between 8 and 9% while the pre-crisis level in the early 2000s in was on average 6.7% in Europe.

In light of the European Elections of 2014 it is of fundamental importance for the European left to clearly define and promote a set of alternative economic policies that can address the log-term structural problems in Europe and their impact on growth, equality and employment.

To this end, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) together with Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd (AE-ECLM) and LO (The Danish Federation of Trade Unions) organised a one-day seminar on the 8th May in Copenhagen, Denmark, to present and discuss ideas for policy measures that can put Europe on a different developmental trajectory where job creation and equitable growth takes center stage.

Speakers include: Ernst Stetter, Secretary General of FEPS, Lars Andersen, Director of AE-ECLM, Per Kongshøj Madsen, Professor in Labor Market Research at Aalborg Univeristy and Chair of AE-ECLM, Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Programme Director at Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and President of the PES, Andrew Watt, Head of the Department of Macroeconomic Policy Institute at the Hans Böckler Foundation, Jerome De Henau, Lecturer in Economics at the Open University, Jan Kæraa, Chief Economist at LO, Jesper Petersen, Spokesman on finance policy for the Social Democrats, Stephanie Blankenburg, Senior Lecturer in Economic at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Francesco Garibaldo, Director of the Instituto per Lavoro (IPL) and the seminar was moderated by Signe Dahl, Senior Economist at AE-ECLM.

The activity report has been written by Anne Marie Krogsgaard Andersen, stud.scient.oecon at AE-ECLM.