Ávarp á fundi hjá framkvæmdastjórn ESB

As you are aware of the EEA-EFTA countries have not been included in the spring reports of the Commission in 2004 and 2005 on the indicators that reflect the key Lisbon Strategy targets. Allow me therefore to underline some facts about the Icelandic labour market today. Firstly I will distribute comparism with EU 25 from 2004 and 2005 and secondly allow me to inform about the situation in the year 2006.

The GDP has been very high for the last few years and is this year foreseen to be around 4,2% in 2006.

The unemployment rate is now 1% and even lower in some parts of the country so that one can state that we do not have any unemployment in the country. The participation in the labour market is very high, currently 84,2%; 88,8% amongst men and 79,2% amongst women. The participation of women in the Icelandic labour market is currently the highest within OECD-countries and I must mention that participation of elderly, people, between 60 and 70, is also high compared to other countries. Our pension system is very strong and the pension age is 67 with some possibilitis for prolonging.

Let me also add that the birth rate in Iceland has been rising slightly, it is now 2,1 births per woman which is the highest rate within EEA-countries, only Turkey has higher birthrate among countries in Europe.

Finally I would like to mention the new paternity leave system in our country where maternity leave is divided between the father and the mother, three months for the mother, three months for the father and three months the parents can divide between them. We call it "use it or loose it right" which means that if the father does not use his right the family looses it. The fact is that today just over 90% of fathers use just over three months of the paternity leave and spent them with their new born child. Polls made within OECD indicate that this is much higher percentage than expected in other contries.

We are currently running different research on possible influences of the paternity leave and we do hope that it will strengthen the equality between men and women in our country.

The labour market in Iceland is seen to be very flexible and the cooperation between the social partners and the government is very strong and well developed. I would therefore like to suggest the idea that Iceland would host a conference in cooperation with the commission on issues relatet to the labour market, maternity leave and pension systems where we could discuss among others flexicurity and gender equality within the labour market.

I would also like to mention that it might be possible to send an Icelandic specialist in the field of gender equality to work with the commission on issues related to that field, not least the new paternity leave that has recieved attention world wide, even is Asia.

I must say that I am proud, as a Minister of Social Affairs, to be able to give this information on indicators in international context and I underline that we would like to cooperate with the commission on the issues I have mentioned.