More than 250 European towns and cities will take part in the first-ever European-wide job fair on 29 and 30 September. The event, part of the EU's European Year of Workers' Mobility (EYWM), will include a range of activities and opportunities for people to learn about working in other European countries and professions. Jobs fairs will take place in all 25 EU countries, as well as Iceland, Norway, Bulgaria, Romania and Switzerland. Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, will be revealing more details on the fair today, when he will also announce the 2006 worker mobility award.

'This job fair is another major step forward in making mobility a reality for EU workers,' said Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. 'In the early part of the this European Year of Workers' Mobility, we saw the launch of the new EURES jobs portal with one million job vacancies, as well as some positive decisions on dropping restrictions on free movement of EU workers. In this second part of the year, we now have the chance to go local with our message that worker mobility is good for workers, businesses and economies in general.'

The European Job Fair is one of the centre-pieces of the 2006 EYWM. Designed to help Europeans learn more about working abroad and changing careers, the fair's activities will include large scale job fairs in cities such as Leipzig, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Brussels, Poznan, Marseille, major 'Job Tours' in the UK, and a mobility bus touring nine EU countries, leaving Paris on September 22 and arriving in Brussels on October17.

Job fair visitors will not only hear about job opportunities across Europe, but also how to move to another country or region. People who have already changed careers and worked in another country will also be on hand to give advice.

The 2006 worker mobility award will reward an organisation, an enterprise and an individual who will have actively contributed to promote mobility during the EYWM. Submissions of candidates details can begin from today and the winners will receive their awards from Commissioner Špidla at the EYWM's closing conference in France on 11 December.

The EYWM hopes to help promote more worker mobility, towards new sectors, skills and countries, throughout the EU. Just 2% of Europeans live in an EU country other than their country of origin, a situation largely unchanged over the last 30 years. And average job duration is 10.6 years in the EU – in the US, it is 6.5. http://ec.europa.eu/eures/home.jsp?lang=en

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/workersmobility_2006/index.cfm?language=EN

Please see MEMO/06/290 for detailed list of events.

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