Brussels, 07/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Following a 2013 initiative for youth employment, the European Commission will be presenting (on Wednesday 9 September) its initiative for tackling another major challenge exacerbated by the 2008 financial and economic crisis, long-term unemployment.
The parameters for this new initiative will be presented to the press by the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Marianne Thyssen, on Monday 7 September in Brussels. In contrast to the youth employment initiative, the Commission proposals for supporting around 12 million long-term unemployed (half those currently and actively seeking work in the EU) will have specifically targeted goals. It involves recommendations and the possibility of only using financial resources that already exist in the European budget (by way of the European Social Fund).
Long-term unemployment is defined as unemployment that involves job seeking over the period of time that exceeds a year (the longer one is unemployed, the more chance of being unable to find a job). 12 million people are long-term unemployed in the EU, 9.5 million of whom are in the eurozone. It should be pointed out, however, that on average, 30% of the long-term unemployed do not appear on the register and only 25% of them receive welfare benefits. Sometimes they account for more than 10% of the active population (Hungary, Spain and Greece) or less than 2% (Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom). Those aged under 25, nationals of non-EU countries and people with poor qualifications are those most affected by this phenomenon.
The Commission will be putting forward a general approach to this challenge: specific country recommendations are expected to be formulated later by the Public Employment Services (PES) network, in the hope of providing the EU with a common strategy. The Commissioner explained that such an approach is necessary because this problem affects all member states and the long-term unemployed are at risk of becoming marginalised during the still fragile economic upturn. This approach consists of three recommendations. Member states will therefore be called on to: identify the long-term unemployed through a reliable PES registration system; developing tailor-made assessments and follow-up; proposing a reliable and appropriate solution over an 18 month period, which outlines a return to work plan combining the services of different organisations and listing the rights and responsibility of each party. The Commission is therefore hoping to reduce the number of these unemployed workers by 5 million. (Jan Kordys)