EU misses employment goal 

According to the 2005 edition of the EU Labour Force Survey , the employment rate in the 25 EU countries grew from 63.3% to 63.8% between 2004 and 2005. Although this growth was the highest since the launch of the Lisbon strategy in the spring of 2000, it was insufficient to reach the mid-term target of a 67% employment rate, which was agreed by the 2001 Stockholm Council. Statistical extrapolations suggest that, under an optimistic scenario, the mid-term target may be reached only in 2010, when, under the Lisbon strategy, the employment rate should be 70%. Conservative estimates predict that the 2010 rate may only be 65%. 

EU economies are more on track with reaching the the additional targets for the employment of women and workers aged 55 to 64, which were adopted in Stockholm. The employment rate for women grew from 55.7% to 56.3% between 2004 and 2005, approaching the Stockholm mid-term target of 57% and bringing the 60% employment objective for 2010 within reach. Older workers' employment grew a record 1.5% (from 41.0% to 42.5%), making it likely that the 50% employment target for 2010 can also be attained. 

As was the case in past years, Denmark (75.9%), the Netherlands (73.2%), Sweden (72.5%) and the UK (71.7%) were the countries with the highest employment rates, (but they were outperformed by non-EU countries Iceland (83.8%) and Switzerland (77.2%)). The lowest employment rates were in Poland (52.8%) and Malta (53.9%), in candidate country Croatia (54.8%) and in Bulgaria (55.9%). 

Even though the worst performers are all 'new' member states or accession candidates, the figures show that the EU’s bad job record cannot be solely blamed on the new Member States. Indeed, six of the ten ‘new’ countries performed above EU average for the total employment rate and even looking only at the results in the ‘old’ member states, the union's targets would have been missed.

Many of the countries at the lower end of the scale have particular problems bringing women into jobs. In Malta, little more than a third of women have jobs; in Italy, only around 45%. Countries with low employment rates also tend to be more manufacturing-oriented and to have weak services sectors. In Poland, only 53.4% work in the services sector; in Romania, the figure is only 37.3%. Within the whole EU, 67.6% work in services and in the most competitive countries, the rate is 75% to 80%.