Access to employment is a key requirement for people to be able to avoid the risk of poverty and social exclusion. In 2007, the Commission published a Communication stating that a more strategic approach was needed to ensure that those disadvantaged are integrated into the job market in the longer-term and not just the short-term. The aim, therefore, should be to ensure access not only to employment as such but to jobs which are stable and provide a reasonable level of income over a number of years.

Host Country : Austria

Place and date : Vienna, 24. - 25.4.2008

Peer countries : Finland - Ireland - Norway - Slovenia - Spain - United Kingdom

Stakeholders : Mental Health Europe, BUSINESSEUROPE

Social partners are of central importance in this respect and the Peer Review will throw light on the initiatives taken by social partners to help improve the access of disadvantaged groups to employment. The groups concerned include a number of different sections of the population, and the social partners in Austria who are hosting the Peer Review will present a range of different initiatives centred on three main themes: work and age, work and disability and work and health.

Peer Review manager

Ms Ulrike Hiebl (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)