EUROVOC descriptor: innovation social integration European cooperation small and medium-sized enterprises job access principle of subsidiarity youth unemployment youth policy

7. Is alarmed at the persistence of high unemployment and the poor prospects for increasing employment, both in the eurozone and in the Union as a whole; urges that a special effort be made to provide advice and retraining for all those unemployed for more than six months; insists that small and medium-sized undertakings (SMEs) have a key role to play in job creation and is alarmed at the high number of SME bankruptcies in 2004, while at the same time deploring the fact that, unlike larger enterprises, SMEs have been incapable of taking full advantage of the favourable financial conditions of the last few years; stresses the need to create an environment which promotes the spirit ...[+++] of enterprise and a risk-taking culture which encourages the creation of new businesses by easing the administrative burden on small and medium-sized firms, by simplifying the regulatory environment, by reducing the general level of taxation in the European Union and by improving access for SMEs to sources of finance, particularly risk capital; proposes reforms designed to increase opportunities for SMEs; ; draws attention to the decisive role that micro-loans may play in assisting the creation of businesses and jobs; calls for a detailed examination of such instruments, and for them to be taken into account and promoted at Community level;

Expenditure on regional policy as such is, therefore, modest, with the main emphasis on small areas with specific economic problems (mainly urban areas with high unemployment).

In addition, new enterprises, and especially SMEs, create a host of new jobs and thus reduce the unemployment rate.

While difficulties in some of the sectors which have traditionally attracted migrants (notably construction, mining and manufacturing) have contributed to higher levels of unemployment among migrants than nationals in some countries, there is also evidence that migrants have proved more flexible in dealing with such problems in recent years, in particular by moving into the service sector and by setting up their own small businesses.

A national action plan for employment, based on this strategy, has been adopted for 2004.