Social Affairs Council in Galway on January 15, ETUC General Secretary, John Monks said.

“The Irish Presidency has made an encouraging start in placing employment questions at the centre of its work. The country has been a major contributor to and beneficiary of the European Social Model.” These points were discussed by the ETUC with the Taoiseach and the Irish Employment Minister in Dublin yesterday ".

However the background documents for the Troika meeting concentrate too much on trying to lever the unemployed into work. There is an underlying assumption evident that the unemployed are reluctant to work and that means must be found through the social security systems to put pressure on them to take any available jobs. There is a whiff of American style “workfare” principles in all this.

Yet the problem in many countries is too few jobs, not unfilled vacancies, and experience teaches that a period of sustained economic growth - Europe’s prime need - is the best way of getting the unemployed to work. Clearly there is an important role for active labour market policies to help those who do not have the skills to secure and retain jobs, especially the long-term unemployed, people with disabilities and carers with heavy domestic responsibilities. There are good examples of these schemes in a number of EU countries.

As the Taoiseach himself recognised yesterday, the need is not just for more jobs but for better jobs.

The ETUC will be pressing this theme at Galway and aiming to steer the Troika towards discussing positive measures to boost employment levels, participation rates and equal opportunities.