80. Notes that, as a result of the current crisis, the EU labour market could remain fragmented in the long term with, on the one hand, a concentration of high-quality labour in Member States with balanced current accounts and, on the other hand, high unemployment rates and shortages of competitive labour in those Member States which have been hit the hardest by the crisis and which are also the most heavily indebted;

On the one hand they get paid less for the same job, and on the other their shorter period of employment because of the responsibilities of motherhood are both reasons for the poverty of women when they reach retirement age. That is why unequal pay hits women twice as hard.

On the one hand some respondents have answered on the basis that they thought the question was focusing on their own ability to ensure they respond to hits made by others.

While cross-breeding and selective breeding carried out on a hit-and-miss basis by human hands have been accepted, more precisely targeted interventions involving the production of genes are regarded as the work of the devil.

While cross-breeding and selective breeding carried out on a hit-and-miss basis by human hands have been accepted, more precisely targeted interventions involving the production of genes are regarded as the work of the devil.

In particular, the second Observatory's report underlines a number of useful elements, namely as regards: - an indication to the existence of different problems, attitudes and behaviour within the SME sector, eventually calling for adoption of differentiated policy approaches aiming at micro enterprises on the one hand, and small and medium enterprises on the other hand; - a differentiated contribution of SMEs to employment as only micro firms, although severely hit by the recession, have been able to secure some net job creation in 1990-93, these years being characterised by an important reduction in the number of both medium-sized and ...[+++] large enterprises as well as in their employment levels; - the importance to provide appropriate information and counselling, as well as adequate formation and training facilities to smaller and newly created enterprises; - the key role played by SMEs in both product and process innovation and their effectiveness in bringing those innovations to the market; - the importance of the craft trades, which appear particularly capable of absorbing the low skilled unemployed and can act as a breeding place of qualified personnel for non-craft-sectors; - the relevance of Community efforts to provide assistance to enterprises and to promote economic development through transborder and transnational cooperation, namely by means of the INTERREG initiative and other interventions of the Structural Funds; - a tendency towards convergence across the Member States in many elements of the business environment, even if differences in legislation and technical standards as well as difficulties in gaining access to information can still act as major residual barriers to international activities by SMEs; - the need to improve SMEs information on the functioning of the Internal Market and new opportunities opened to them, as well as to assist SMEs in their efforts to anticipate and adapt to industrial change and current mutations in their business ...