EC's investment plan could create over 2.1 mln new jobs: ILO

A recent European Commission (EC) investment plan could create over 2.1 million new jobs by mid-2018 for Europe if the three-year program were well designed and implemented, said the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Wednesday.

Amid sluggish economic growth and a dimming employment situation in Europe, the plan, aimed to mobilize at least 315 billion euros (about 357 billion U.S. dollars) in private and public investment across the European Union (EU), would foster Europe's competitiveness and help tackle the jobs crisis, according to the latest ILO report.

Raymond Torres, the head of ILO's research department, told a press conference that the investment plan could complement the European Central Bank'(ECB) announcement to switch on the money tap by launching a quantitative easing program.

Torres said the ECB monetary policy itself would not be enough to boost the European economy, but that the investment plan was "potentially an important way to stimulate the real economy directly, in complement to the monetary injections that have been announced by the European Central Bank."

But to make a significant dent on unemployment by creating more than 2.1 million new jobs during the next three years, the plan needed to be well designed and carried out effectively, the ILO official highlighted.

He listed three conditions to be met to fully explore the potential of the investment offensive, including encouraging private investment, tackling the sources of high unemployment - particularly by actively involving small and medium-sized enterprises - and rebalancing policy-making in Europe more towards fostering growth and quality jobs.

Provided the three conditions were met, Torres said, the EC investment plan would make a great difference to the EU employment outlook, otherwise the impact would be limited. Endit