Mr. Juan Menéndez-Valdés:

These long titles for our priorities are the compromises on the negotiations in our governing body. That integration refers to integrating people in the labour market, mainly for people who are inactive and unemployed.

Surveys are very expensive. We run them not only in the 28 member states but also in the candidate countries and we repeat these every four or five years. A number of the questions on the last quality of life survey, in 2012, are repeated in the Eurobarometer every year. We can monitor some trends and we will repeat the European working conditions survey next year. Normally the field work takes approximately three months and yes there can be events at national level that influence a particular reply.

We cannot control this from Eurofound for 28 member states, but sometimes if it is in a particular moment, I can understand that some of the questions are not as expected. Many of these indicators are rather stable, however, including life satisfaction, quality of public service. Yes, there is austerity and very little growth, but Nordic countries were always on top there and we have other countries in a different situation.

The next slide deals with wages. Ireland is seventh just below Austria, Belgium and the UK. If not adjusted to the cost of living it would be fourth - even higher. While salaries are high, prices are also high. It has an impact on Ireland's competitiveness as it would have on any country. It is not the only factor. There are others that Ireland can use to compete, including having a well-qualified and well-educated workforce that is English speaking. Certainly it is an element that I included in my presentation because it is relevant when comparing the 28 member states and talking about the European market.

On the number of jobs and whether they are being created at the lower end, in this slide the blue box shows the most recent job creation across five wage groupings from low-paid through medium-paid to the high-paid. The creation is in the medium and medium to low-paid jobs at the moment. One must bear in mind that it was there that the job loss was concentrated because of the job loss in construction and manufacturing. We will be doing a report on the future of manufacturing in Europe. We want to look at some elements, including the labour cost in Europe compared with other areas in the world.