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Business services deemed crucial for the EU economy and its sustainability
The High Level group on Business Services delivered its Final Report today.
Oliver Roethig, UNI Europa Regional Secretary, chaired the ad-hoc Working Group on Skills.
The High Level Group was launched by Vice-President Tajani and Commissioner Barnier in March 2013 to help define a European policy agenda for the all-important Business Services sector.
In Europe, business services account for 11.7% of our GDP and 12% of employment (1 in 8 jobs in Europe is in business services). Furthermore, since 1999, business services have been growing more than twice as fast (2.4% yearly average growth rate) as the average of all other EU sectors (1.1%). The numbers are even more impressive when looking at employment: employment in business services grew at a yearly rate of 3.5%, compared to 0.8% on average for all other sectors of the EU economy.
The traditional distinction between manufacturing industries and business services is gradually becoming more and more blurred. The High Level Group assessed the trends in the sector. New technologies, especially in the ICT sector, are underpinning the transformation of the way products and services are designed, manufactured and offered to customers.
The High Level Group recommends several actions. In addition to prioritising business services in the Europe 2020 strategy, recommendations cover further integration in the Single Market for services, seizing the international opportunities and developing the right skills and technological infrastructure needed by European companies. The recommendations are issued to the EU Commission, Member States, and industry.
The Final Report, along with the sub-groups focused Reports identifying specific sector challenges and offering policy recommendations to overcome those, can be accessed through the Related Files tab and on this webpage:
