COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION - SYNOPSIS REPORT Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL on the evaluation of the Council Recommendation on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market
Date: 2019-04-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU employment policy, employer, employment service, fight against unemployment, integration into employment, long-term unemployment, unemployed person

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 11.4.2019  SWD(2019) 155 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION - SYNOPSIS REPORT Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL on the evaluation of the Council Recommendation on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market {COM(2019) 169 final} - {SWD(2019) 154 final}  
 
 
CONTEXT – COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION ON LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT 

The  2016  Council  Recommendation  on  the  integration  of  long-term  unemployed  into  the 
labour market stipulates that the Commission shall ‘evaluate, in cooperation with the member 
states and after consulting the stakeholders concerned, the actions taken in response to this 
recommendation  and  report  to  the  council  by  15  February  2019  on  the  results  of  that 
evaluation’.1  

The goal of the stakeholder consultation was to collect data, experiences and opinions on the 
Recommendation’s key criteria from relevant groups and the public. This is in line with the 
Better Regulation guidelines2. This report summarises the consultations and their main results. 

Evaluation Roadmap  

The Commission invited interested parties to provide feedback on the Evaluation Roadmap3, 
available  online  from  29  June  2017  to  27  July  2017.  This  yielded  six  responses:  four  from 
NGOs, one from a business’ association and one indicated ‘Other’. Comments related to the 
Recommendation itself, and included calls to focus more on quality job creation, to involve 
Work Integration Social Enterprises, civil society organisations and to increase Member State 
cooperation and were reflected in the evaluation work. 

Open Public Consultation 

An  open  public  consultation  (OPC)  for  interested  citizens  and  stakeholders  was  open  on 
Commission’s online consultation platform in all 24 official EU languages except Irish, from 
2  May  2018  to  31  July  2018.  It  yielded  482  responses,  from  205  individuals  and  277 
organisations.  Respondents  from  Bulgaria  were  overrepresented  in  the  OPC  as  they 
represented 48% of the total sample. 75% of respondents answered that the Recommendation 
is still relevant in addressing long-term-unemployment (where agreement was higher among 
organisations than among individuals). When excluding the Bulgarian sample, the relevance 
of the Recommendation was viewed more positive. Including Bulgaria, 40% of respondents 
replied that the EU should also pursue other measures to help the long-term unemployed find 
a job, while when excluding the Bulgarian responses, this changes to 66%. 

The majority of respondents thought the measures of the last two years improved for people 
with low skills or qualifications and those with mental and/or psychological disabilities. The 
majority of respondents disagreed that improvements were made for other vulnerable groups 
among the long-term unemployed.  

A  third  of  respondents  replied  that  there  were  synergies  between  EU  policies  helping  long-
term  unemployed.  89%  of  the  respondents  found  it  useful  having  an  EU  policy  targeted  to 
long-term-unemployment. Most respondents said that the Recommendation resulted in some 
changes  in  policies  (prioritisation/funding/acceleration  of  measures).  23  complementary 
documents  were  received, mostly resembling position papers of Civil Society  Organisations 
(CSOs).  Three  stressed  the  importance  of  integrated  services  and  four  noted  that  outreach 

1 Council Recommendation on the integration of the long term unemployed into the labour market of 15 February 2016 (2016/C 67/01) 
2 Better Regulation Guidelines, SWD (2017) 350  
3 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/initiatives/ares-2017-3234290_en  

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towards  people  with  disabilities  could  be  improved.  Three  others  mentioned  that  in-depth 
intervention should happen as early as possible, and that the 18 months cut-off period is too 
late.  Three  CSOs  noted  that  implementation  could  have  been  more  effective  with  dedicated 
funding,  and  one  criticised  that  civil  society  organisations  were  not  assigned  a  role.  Two 
mentioned the importance of including a skills element. One Finnish paper resembled a good 
practice and was used as an example in the Staff Working Document.  

Seminars with national long-term unemployment contact points 

Three seminars with national contact points were held. These contact points were nominated 
by  Member  States  following  the  2016  EMCO  review  on  long-term  unemployment.  The 
objectives  of  the  seminars  were  to  obtain  informal  input  on the  evaluation,  in  particular  the 
supporting study, and to share lessons learned in implementation. The first seminar, held on 
19 March 2018, focused on the supporting study and the data collection method. The second 
seminar,  held  on  28  June  2018,  presented  the  mapping  exercise  of  the  study,  and  two 
examples  of  socially  innovative  projects  from  civil  society.  The  last  seminar,  held  on  6 
November 2018, facilitated discussion on challenges in implementation. The seminars helped 
refine the mapping exercise and clarify definitions used for the evaluation. 

Strategic Dialogue Meeting with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) 

A strategic dialogue meeting was held with EU level CSOs on 15 November 20184 to receive 
feedback from organisations directly or indirectly working with or representing the long-term 
unemployed. The meeting included group discussions on the role of CSOs, current practices, 
and recommendations for the future. 

All  participants  agreed  on  the  relevance  of  guiding  service  providers  in  helping  long-term 
unemployed.  The  Recommendation’s  approach  was  seen  as  holistic  and  inclusive.  The 
recurring  challenges  were  that  the Recommendation  lacked  dedicated  funding,  thus  limiting 
its  effectiveness,  and  that  the  cut-off  time  of  18  months  for  JIAs  was  too  long.  Participants 
also stressed that the Recommendation left little room for innovation as its approach was quite 
strict. They called for more qualitative indicators for monitoring, on the services provided and 
the  quality  of  jobs.  They  also  stressed  the  lack  of  after-placement  mentoring  and  training. 
Lastly, participants expressed concern that CSOs were not given any role. 

Strategic Dialogue Meeting with Social Partners  

On 28 June 2018 EU level Social Partners discussed the Recommendation. Business Europe 
called for more focus on employing the inactive. ETUC emphasised their disappointment that 
the role of trade unions was not recognised, emphasising their role in providing training and 
support in the workplace. 

Consultation of the European Network of Public Employment Services 

The  PES  Network  contributed  extensively  to  monitoring  and  conducted  a  capacity  survey 
among their PES offices dedicated to the implementation of the Recommendation, as detailed 

4 Strategic Dialogue Meeting with CSOs held on 15 November 2018, report forthcoming  

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under in Annex 1. Between 29 June and 9 July the Advisers For European PES Affairs were 
consulted  on  the  report  presenting the  results  of  this  survey,  which  eventually  led  to  an  ex-
post testing of the interpretation of its findings. 

Consultation of the European Social Fund Committee 

The ESF Committee’s Informal Technical Working Group was consulted on 5 October 2018. 
An ad-hoc report5 on the use of the ESF to support the long-term unemployed was produced, 
feeding into the evaluation. 

Consultation of the Social Protection Committee 

The  Social  Protection  Committee  (SPC)  was  consulted  on  30  October  2018  and  gave  its 
consent to using its 2018 thematic report6 for the evaluation. 

Targeted interviews on EU level 

Interviews  on  EU  level  were  executed  in  the  framework  of  the  supporting  study  with  nine 
stakeholders, including three civil society organisations7, four social partners8, and two public 
authorities.9  Interviewees  were  asked  their  opinion  on  the  Recommendation’s  relevance, 
effectiveness, coherence and EU added value. 

There was consensus among all interviewed stakeholders that the Recommendation was and 
is  still  relevant  in  fighting  long-term  unemployment.  Employers’  organisations  and  CSOs 
emphasised  the  relevance  of  the  individualised  approach  and  coordination  of  services.  Two 
CSOs criticised the 18 months cut-off point as mentioned in the JIA, and one CSO and one 
social partner noted that an assessment of the specific labour market situations causing long-
term  unemployment  within  Member  States  was  lacking.  Trade  unions  underlined  that  they 
were given no role in the Recommendation. 

Most interviewees argued that implementation of the Recommendation is a task for Member 
States and that the EU has a limited role. The majority argued that the EU should monitor and 
follow up on implementation, also pressuring Member States where limited progress has been 
made.  Other  suggestions  were  that  the  EU  should  help  break  down  social  stigma  towards 
long-term  unemployed  (one  CSO)  and  facilitate  exchange  on  practices  between  Member 
States (one social partner). 

One trade union thought that the Recommendation had put long-term unemployment higher 
on the policy agenda. CSOs argued that the Recommendation has had a positive impact. One 
public  authority  said  it  had  harmonized  approaches  related  to  the  integration  of  long-term 
unemployed  persons.  The  majority  of  interviewees  argued  that  the  Recommendation  was 
coherent with other EU policies tackling unemployment. It was noted that the use of EU funds 

5  Thematic  note  on  the  ESF  and  YEI  support  to  long-term  unemployed  (LTU)  and  the  implementation  of  Council  Recommendation  on 

integration of LTU into the labour market 

6 Social Protection Committee Thematic Reporting on ‘Social services that complement active labour market inclusion measures for people 

of working age who are furthest away from the labour market’, 2018 

7 European Network of Social Integration Enterprises (ENSIE), Eurocities and Eurodiaconia. 
8 Employers’ organisations: SMEUnited, CEEP and BusinessEurope. Trade unions: ETUC 
9 Committee of Regions and European Commission – DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. 

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could be improved, for example by using ESF to overcome PES capacity issues, as suggested 
by  one  social  partner.  The  EU  added  value  of  the  Recommendation  had  been  to  place  the 
issue  of  long-term  unemployment  (higher)  on  the  policy  agenda  and  provide  guidance  on 
measures, according to most of the interviewees. One CSO argued that it could contain more 
minimum  standards  for  those  member  states  with  low-developed  support  systems. 
Nevertheless,  hypothetically  repealing  the  Recommendation  was  seen  as  negative  by  all 
interviewees. 

Targeted interviews conducted for the case studies 

Eight  case  studies  were  conducted  as  part  of  the  external  supporting  study10  for  Croatia, 
Finland,  Germany,  Greece,  Ireland,  Italy,  Romania  and  Slovakia.  Information  was  gathered 
through  fieldwork  by  the  appointed  national  experts,  supplemented  by  targeted  interviews 
with stakeholders from Member States. The national long-term unemployment contact points 
were consulted on the results. For further information please see Annex 5: Case Studies. 

Croatia 

National  level  interviewees  reported  that  the  Recommendation  was  a  breaking  point  for 
national policy, leading to changes in legislation and redesigning of internal procedures. This 
was seen by most as the EU added value of the Recommendation. However, its effectiveness 
varied across the measures proposed. The interviewed employers were positive on the use of 
financial support, but in general were not interested in partnerships related to hiring the long-
term  unemployed.  Most  stakeholders  thought  that  the  costs  of  implementation  of  the 
Recommendation  would  not  be  excessive,  as  most  measures  were  already  in  place, 
particularly when comparing to the assumed benefit of the Recommendation (lowering long-
term unemployment).  Most saw synergies with  national policies. More mutual  learning was 
welcomed. 

Finland 

The relevance of the Recommendation was not assessed to be high apart from an increase in 
awareness  of  the  opportunities  for  employers  to  hire  long-term  unemployed  persons.  The 
effectiveness of the Recommendation was seen as low in Finland, as all measures proposed 
were already in place. PES staff mentioned that there have been some incremental changes in 
some  operational  measures,  but  that  these  were  not  an  effect  of  the  Recommendation.  All 
elements are in line with Finnish employment policy.  

Germany 

The Recommendation was deemed not relevant for Germany as it did not initiate any policy 
changes (all measures proposed were already in place or even more advanced). Only half of 
the  national  interviewees  were  aware  of  the  Recommendation  prior  to  the  interview.  Case 
managers  in  PES  mentioned  that  there  should  be  more  freedom  in  ESF  projects.  As  no 
measures were introduced, their effectiveness cannot be assessed.  

10  Study  supporting  the  evaluation  of  the  Council  Recommendation  on  the  integration  of  long-term  unemployed  into  the  labour  market, 

Ramboll Management consortium for the European Commission, 2019 

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Greece 

It seems that measures taken under the Financial Assistance Programme 2012 are in line with 
the  policies  set  out  in  the  Recommendation.  They  included  a  restructuring  of  PES  services 
through modernisation, retraining of staff to provide more individual support and the set-up of 
Community  centres.  PES  beneficiaries  were  satisfied  with  services  provided  and  the 
individual action plan that was used. PES counsellors stressed that an individual approach is 
crucial,  and  that  implementing  the  JIA  would  be  beneficial.  Employers  and  employers’ 
associations expressed reluctance to use PES services, due to perceived bureaucratic burden 
or  lack  of  flexibility.  Businesses  expressed  disappointed  at  not  being  involved  in  ALMP 
development. Stakeholders saw EU added value in ESF funding and in knowledge sharing. At 
national  and  local  level,  it  was  noted  as  a  concern  that  policies  were  designed  top-down 
without much targeted measures.  

Ireland 

The  interviewees  agreed  that  the  Recommendation  remained  relevant.  It  led  to  a  better 
understanding of the target group and the identification of vulnerable groups among long-term 
unemployed. National level stakeholders mentioned that it confirmed measures taken prior to 
the Recommendation and led to increased cooperation and a more integrated approach. This 
was  confirmed  by  regional  level  interviewees.  Stakeholders  felt  that  employer  support  had 
strengthened. Stakeholders did not report any financial consequences of the Recommendation. 
It was argued to be in line with other EU initiatives. The EU added value was identified as 
bringing  a  common  goal  to  different  institutions  that  support  long-term  unemployed. 
Stakeholders also suggested more mutual learning between Member States. 

Italy  

The  Recommendation  was  seen  as  relevant  as  it  raised  awareness  of  existing  issues  and 
helped design a policy agenda to address them. However, its effectiveness was argued to be 
low. Local level interviewees in both regions argued that outreach and thus registration with 
employment  services  has  remained  low.  Views  from  the  regional  and  local  level  confirmed 
that customised support service differs territorially11, with regional interviewees ascribing this 
to  a  lack  of  staff.  Interviewees  expressed  that  cooperation  with  other  service  providers  is 
informal  and  unstructured  and  that  employers  have  low  incentives  to  build  strong 
relationships with the PES. The measures set out in the Recommendation were reported to be 
coherent  with  national  policies  on  labour  and  anti-poverty,  introduced  between  2012  and 
2018.  

Romania  

The  Recommendation  was  deemed  relevant  especially  in  terms  of  providing  support  to  the 
most  disadvantaged  groups  in  the  labour  market.  Its  effectiveness  was  seen  as  high.  Local 
level interviewees mentioned that although work is ongoing to develop a SPOC, none of this 

11 A regional PES officer from Lombardy stated that the individualized approach has been part of their operations since 2007, whereas actors 
from  Marche noted that new guidelines were set out in the Customized Service Pact  (Italian Job Integration Agreement) and were very 
novel. 

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has  operationalised.  An  employer  found  the  post-placement  support  offered  by  employment 
services  to  be  relevant.  People  working  with  long-term  unemployed  persons  noted  that 
mediation  services  were  effective.  Stakeholders  said  that  the  Recommendation  created  new 
opportunities  to  better support clients.  Efficiency was said to have  increased due to a better 
coordination of services through the removal of redundant processes, improved feedback and 
increased  customer  satisfaction.  Some  coherence  was  identified  with  the  Youth  Guarantee, 
but  not  with  other  EU  policy  initiatives  within  Romania.  The  EU  added  value  was  in  the 
mobilisation of national efforts to support long-term unemployed individuals. 

Slovakia  

Apart  from  the  measure  on  registration,  all  measures  proposed  in  the  Recommendation 
appeared relevant for Slovakia and were viewed to be effective. According to PES staff, the 
most  effective  change  was  the  shortening  of  the  activation  period  from  24  to  18  months, 
although  this  was  not  acknowledged  by  PES  clients.  Interviewees  stated  that  existing 
measures  to  register  jobseekers  have  been  further  developed.  Measures  have  been  taken  to 
introduce  a  SPOC,  but  its  effectiveness  is  debatable,  with  opposing  views  from  clients  and 
PES  officers.  Employers  and  employers’  associations  were  satisfied  with  services.  The 
Recommendation was coherent with national policies, and helped to implement these policies 
on a wider scope.  

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