PES Network strategy : European Network of Public Employment Services.
Date: 2021-07-22
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU employment policy, European Employment Strategy, employment service, integration into employment, job access

PES Network Strategy
European Network of Public  
Employment Services

May 2021

Social Europe

The PES Network Strategy has been endorsed by the Board Members of the PES Network on 24 June 2021.

This Strategy is the output of a PES Network working group chaired by the Austrian PES who gathered 10 PES from Bulgaria, 
France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the PES Secretariat. They virtually met 
several times between February and May 2021.

It has been drafted with the support of the PES Secretariat and Eamonn Davern, in the frame of a service contract with ICON 
consortium and their ÖSB partners.

PES Network Secretariat

European Commission

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

E-mail: EMPL-PES-SECRETARIAT@ec.europa.eu

European Commission
B-1049 Brussels

PES Network Strategy
European Network of Public  
Employment Services

The European Network of Public Employment Services was created following a Decision of the European Parliament and 
Council in June 2014, amended in 2020. Its objective is to reinforce PES capacity, effectiveness and efficiency. This activity has 
been developed within the work programme of the European PES Network. For further information: http://ec.europa.eu/social/
PESNetwork.

This activity has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" 
(2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi.

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The information and views set out in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion 
of the European Union. Neither the European Union institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf may be held 
responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein. More information on the European Union is 
available on the Internet (http://www.europa.eu).

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FOREWORD 

‘It’s better together!’

In the seven years since it was established, the European 
Network of Public Employment Services (PES Network) has 
proven to be a great success. By enabling cooperation 
between services in Europe, it has delivered benefits both 
for PES and the citizens they serve and improved the 
operation of national and European labour markets.

The decision of the European institutions in 2020 to extend 
the mandate of the Network has confirmed the importance 
of these collective efforts. As the Network Board, we are 
delighted to continue our joint activities. The updated Network 
Strategy that follows is in response both to this renewed 
mandate and the rapidly changing European labour markets.

The Network’s renewed mission is “to empower, educate, 
and improve” our members in order “to promote 
modernisation of individual PES”. By encouraging 
optimum use of technology and data, and facilitating 
enhanced competencies for PES staff, our goal is to enable 
national PES to better fulfil their role as key actors in the 
employment services ecosystem. By offering our expertise 
and experience, we aim to contribute to European 
employment strategies and services. 

More broadly, we hope to play a key role in delivering 
on Europe’s employment goals, including the 2030 
target - under the European Pillar of Social Rights - of a 

78% employment rate. We also expect to contribute to the 
implementation of the European Green Deal and the UN 
Sustainable Development Goals.

Our updated Strategy emphasises that partnerships 
with other labour market actors will remain high on 
our agenda in the years ahead. This reflects the evolution 
of the employment services ecosystem and the increasing 
relevance of partnerships for delivering on our shared 
priorities, such as gender equality and the integration of 
those furthest from the labour market.

Finally, we highlight the expected value of PES Network 
outputs for national and European policymakers 
and stakeholders. Our Knowledge Centre and PES 
Practices database will continue to provide the information 
and insights required to inform better legislation and 
regulation. This includes improving the design and delivery 
of active labour market programmes.

We firmly believe that there are real opportunities for 
national PES to benefit from the knowledge exchange, mutual 
learning and policy expertise provided by the European PES 
Network. We look forward to delivering on this Strategy in the 
years ahead and invite you to join us on this journey.

The PES Network Board

European 
Network of
Public
Employment 
Services

The PES Network is a European Network of 32 Public Employment Services (PES) from 30 Member and Partner States, and the 
European Commission.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD 

PREFACE 

1. STRATEGIC TRENDS – OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

2. PES NETWORK MANDATE

3. VISION AND MISSION

4. PES NETWORK OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE

5. PES PARTNERSHIPS AND THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE ECOSYSTEM

6. THE CHANGE TRAJECTORY – MEETING FUTURE CHALLENGES

5

7

9

10

12

14

16

18

PREFACE 

This Strategy describes how the PES Network can deliver 
on its mission.

It sets out:

-  what the PES Network is planning to achieve;
-  what outputs will be produced; 
-  how and why these outputs will be used by 

stakeholders, i.e., national PES and national and 
European-level partners. 

The rapidly changing world of work is placing increasing 
demands on public employment services (PES). 
Developments in technology offer labour market 
opportunities that require new skills, while demand for  
others can reduce or disappear. This is bringing about 
significant changes for jobseekers, employers and PES. 
Accelerated change and increased flexibility are driving a 
shift away from traditional unemployment-employment 
divisions towards the development of transitional labour 
markets.

This results in far less stable employment relationships 
and increasing numbers of job changes through a working 

lifetime; it leads to the erosion of stable employment and 
the growth of atypical employment patterns. Furthermore, 
there is a growing trend towards increasing labour market 
dualisation which puts a dividing line between those with 
secure and less secure work. Where PES acquire more 
knowledge on the implications of this for their increasingly 
diverse customer base, they can enhance activation. This 
will assist people in finding decent work and seeking re/
upskilling as required.

These changes to the world of work are inherent to 
economic development, but risk having the greatest 
impact on some of the most vulnerable people in society, 
who are furthest from the labour market. New European 
employment policies are being developed to address these 
challenges.

PES have a key role in supporting citizens to manage 
labour market risk through positive transitions. They 
have developed a conducting role to continue to 
support their core clients while addressing the needs of 
new groups of customers, especially in managing these 
transitions. Their aim is to optimise the impact of labour 
market interventions. 

Increasingly transitional labour markets

Youth
guarantee

Reskilling

Work-life
balance

Upskilling 

Digital
skills

Job-search
support

The PES Network assists PES in dealing with a labour market that is increasingly characterised by more frequent transitions for 
citizens throughout their working lives.

 | 7

The PES Network has been developed to assist PES in 
achieving their objectives via a range of outputs: 

identifying service offerings; 

- 
-  encouraging innovation;
-  sharing learning and exchange of good practice; 
-  setting and reviewing standards for service delivery; 
-  encouraging the development of partnerships;
- 

facilitating Benchlearning (benchmarking + mutual 
learning) to identify strengths and areas for improvement 
in PES delivery, to inform design of the annual PES work 
programme;    

-  providing evidence to support policy design, including 
through production of policy papers, reports, and case 
studies of PES practices.

PES continue to be central labour market actors.  
Fundamental changes in their operating environment means 
they are increasingly delivering services as part of a wider 
employment services ecosystem. In response to the 
impact of technological developments, new models are 
emerging for the recruitment of employees. For example, 
employment applications are increasingly handled through 
digital mediation platforms and enhanced analytics. 

Though each PES operates within a specific national 
institutional framework, with some country-specific variations 
in their remit and delivery models, they are all committed 
to modernising their services to achieve the best possible 
outcomes for citizens. The various approaches to organisational 
design and individual PES responses to the challenges they 
face provide a broad source of experience and expertise that is 
of great collective benefit to the entire Network.    

The employment services ecosystem enables PES and their 
partners to function as a unit, providing personalised 
support to meet individual circumstances. Many organisations 
are available to provide specialist support to people with 
complex needs so that they can overcome barriers to labour 
market integration. The employment services ecosystem 
takes advantage of the potential opportunities offered by 
enhanced connectivity between stakeholders. Thus, jobseekers 
are supported to enter the labour market and employers to 
obtain the right skills.

The Network therefore enables PES to review the services 
they offer, their systems to deliver these, and how they 
can best develop partnerships to meet the needs of 
clients for increasingly personalised services.

8 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

1

STRATEGIC TRENDS –  
OPPORTUNITIES AND 
CHALLENGES 

The PES Network is facing challenges and opportunities 
from mega trendsi that are driven by political, economic, 
environmental, social and technological developments.

-  blurring of boundaries – co-development of support 
systems is dismantling silos to enable customer-centric 
services; 

The intersection of these mega trends has significant 
implications for PES, with greater:

-  erosion of governance – increased decentralisation 

and diminishing trust in institutions is driving a 
transition from directing to enabling; 

-  displacement – due to mass migration, with 

-  empowerment – the growth of new markets requiring 

a revised employer engagement approach;

appropriate policy responses needed to ensure that the 
benefits from this can be realised.

-  polarisation – an increasing skill-set divide needing 

more emphasis on social inclusion;

-  hyperconnectivity – integrating systems by 

embracing the employment services ecosystem; 
-  disengagement – interpersonal divergence and 

workforce fragmentation driving more of a focus on 
personalised support; 

-  ageing – creating a demand for inter-generational 

fairness with measures to combat age discrimination; 

-  dematerialisation – digitalisation driving the 

knowledge economy and society, with a data-driven 
approach becoming essential;

-  scarcity – fostering the greening of the economy 

increasing the priority to promote green employment;

The continued acceleration of social and technological 
trends will require the Strategy to be kept under review as 
a living document.

To support customers, the PES Network must  
navigate these challenges and opportunities. It must 
keep up to date with changes to identify promising 
practices in national PES and promote these to assist 
PES in adapting to a rapidly evolving situation. The 
Network must focus on activities that can support 
PES in dealing with the significant impact of labour 
market disruption by identifying prospects for positive 
intervention. 

(i) Adapted from Beyond the Noise, Megatrends of Tomorrow’s World, Klein, Bansal and Wohlers, Deloitte Study July 2017.

 | 9

PES NETWORK MANDATE 

2

Following the Decision to extend its mandate until 2027 
the PES Network has refreshed its vision. This reflects 
the recognition by European institutions of the high value 
of the Network as a labour market expert. The Network 
delivers a facilitation function, which includes providing a 
knowledge hub, supporting, advising and enabling national 
PES. Consequently, the European Commission seeks to 
align the Network with its labour market priorities as 
reflected in the updated Decision text.

The revised Network vision is therefore intended to set a 
strategic direction to focus on actions necessary to 
respond to the changing and uncertain environment. 
Of particular significance are continuing, and increasingly 
frequent, changes in the world of work and specifically 
the profound disruption to labour markets generated by 
the COVID-19 pandemic and the growth of the platform 
economy.  

The revised legal text introduces new requirements 
for the Network to provide an EU-level instrument to 
stimulate national PES developments. These promote the 
increasing alignment of PES activities with EU policy 
priorities to meet new labour market challenges. Of 
particular relevance are references to the European Green 
Deal, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the UN 
Sustainable Development Goals.

The prolonged mandate recognises the continuing key 
role of PES in matching jobseekers to vacancies, which 
underpins balancing supply and demand in an evolving 
labour market. It also stresses the Network’s function 
in facilitating Benchlearning to support continuous 
improvement. This enables PES to provide support for 
their employees to improve services for clients. This 
includes reviews of organisational structures to assist PES 
in adapting to change and facilitating delivery of more 

EU 2030 Employment Targets

At least

At least

78%

aged 20 to 64
in employment

1

2

the gender
employment gap

Decrease the rate of 
NEETs to 9%

The European
Green Deal

von der Leyen Commission

#EUGreenDeal

The PES Network aims to assist PES in contributing directly to the achievement of key European employment objectives set under  
the European Pillar of Social Rights (European Social Pillar) – and also support progress towards the European Green Deal and  
UN Sustainable Development Goals.

10 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

customer-centric services. The mandate also emphasises 
the importance of partnerships to deliver priorities. 
The promotion of gender equality and support for the 
integration of people with disabilities, migrants, long-term 
unemployed and inactive people are especially significant.  

To achieve the objectives of the revised mandate the 
Network should prioritise actions to support national 
PES to overcome labour market discrimination. 
Further to this, it should promote the evolution of services 
necessary to support future workers in transitional labour 
markets. The Network should also provide assistance to 
enable PES to optimise their contribution to mitigating 
the impact of labour market disruption from crises. An 
enhanced emphasis on career counselling and training will 
be necessary to enable workers to successfully navigate 
increasing numbers of job transitions, thereby supporting 
growth and preventing unemployment. 

The importance placed on cooperation between  
PES and other labour market stakeholders  
reflects the evolution of the employment services 
ecosystem. This is a community of actors that connect 
with each other in different groupings to support a  
well-functioning labour market and the integration of 
jobseekers in specific situations. This cooperation is 
both supported and driven by increased digitalisation. 
PES is increasingly forming part of a wider group 
of providers of data-driven support services. This 
offers increased possibilities for the development of 
individualised support and customer choice. The revised 
mandate refers to the role the PES Network performs 
as an advisory body supporting European-level policy 
development. It calls for even closer alignment between 
employment service delivery and policy formulation. 
This includes proactive expert input into the European 
Employment Committee (EMCO).

 | 11

VISION AND MISSION 

3

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PES NETWORK FROM THE 
CHANGING LABOUR MARKET

The revised PES Network mandate has presented 
revised priorities. These include the promotion of 
partnerships as a vehicle for the social inclusion and 
economic integration of people from vulnerable groups. 

PES increasingly operate as part of an employment 
service ecosystem. This is driven by the need to 

increase outreach to vulnerable citizens. It is facilitated 
by the potential to utilise AI and big data to provide more 
personalised support to all customers.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has fast-tracked changes 
that were already being driven by existing trends. 

Modernisation of Public Employment Services

Enhanced
quality

Online
services

Artificial
intelligence

Data
driven

Personalised
services

Staff
skills

The PES Network supports PES to enhance the quality and modernisation of their services to improve their resilience, notably through 
the development of data-driven and personalised services.

12 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

VISION

The Network’s vision is to be a vehicle for enhanced 
European PES cooperation. This is to enable national 
PES to deliver their role as key actors in the employment 
services ecosystem and contribute to European 
employment strategies and services. The objective is 
to improve labour market function by supporting the 
activities of jobseekers, employers, and stakeholders. This 
is achieved by helping citizens to successfully navigate 

transitions, assisting employers with the recruitment of 
suitably skilled staff, and working in partnership with 
stakeholder organisations to achieve mutual objectives. 
Priority will be given to actions designed to overcome 
barriers to integration. The Network also provides the 
opportunity for national PES to capitalise on its role  
as a source of significant employment policy expertise  
in the EU.

MISSION

The mission of the Network is to empower, educate, and 
improve so that it can achieve its core purpose – to promote 
modernisation of individual PES, encourage optimum use 
of technology and data, and facilitate enhanced competencies 
for staff. This is to assist PES in continuing to adapt their 
role and function, thereby enabling them to contribute to the 
implementation of EU employment policies and strategies, 
and to provide efficient services to jobseekers and employers. 

It will achieve this through continuing to strengthen and 
encourage cooperation between PES. This will include 
promoting the evolution of services to enable successful 
transitions and meet labour market challenges, thereby:

- 

increasing capacity to enhance labour market 
function; 

-  promoting labour market inclusion by undertaking 
actions that foster gender equality and support for  
the integration of people from vulnerable groups; 

-  boosting labour demand, including encouraging 
occupational and voluntary geographical mobility; 
-  facilitating the supply of suitably skilled workers to 

promote employment growth;

-  anticipating demands, using labour market 

information and skills needs analysis;

-  preparing the labour force for active labour market 
participation and skills development, through training, 
career counselling and guidance;

-  assisting jobseekers and employers in dealing 
with labour market crises, by providing PES with 
support to enable them to deliver services; 

-  supporting employers to adapt to their changing role 

in an evolving labour market;

-  optimising benefits from the evolution of the 

employment services ecosystem.

 | 13

PES NETWORK OBJECTIVES 
AND PURPOSE

4

The objectives of the PES Network are defined in  
Article 3 of the Decision. In line with these, a number of 
particularly important tasks are to:

-  support collaboration in regional, national, and 

- 

international projects;
increase the influence of PES through the pooling of 
resources;

-  promote compliance with the requirements of the 

-  enhance the reputation of PES via increased promotion 

Decision establishing the cooperation with a particular 
emphasis on: 
• 

reducing unemployment for all ages, genders, and 
vulnerable groups;

•  supporting the modernisation and strengthening 

of PES to support delivery of EU employment and 
social policies;

•  adopting and implementing a work programme of 
deliverables, including Mutual Learning activities, 
related to the implementation of Benchlearning; 
•  promoting and sharing best practices to support the 
labour market integration of vulnerable groups. 

of modernisation initiatives. 

The PES Network identifies the most appropriate 
solutions to labour market challenges from the 
application of labour market services and employment 
programmes for both its jobseeker and employer 
customers. It emphasises specialist support to assist  
clients, especially those from disadvantaged groups. 
It prioritises assistance for vulnerable jobseekers to 
develop competencies and skills to access opportunities 
in the developing knowledge and green economies, 
contributing to the reduction of poverty, combatting 

BENCHLEARNING

The PES Network works through an innovative process of benchlearning (benchmarking + mutual learning) to firstly identify areas for 
improvement and good practices, and then exchange and learn around these.

14 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

social exclusion and reducing welfare dependency. This 
is achieved through reducing institutional obstacles for 
upskilling and promoting continuous lifelong learning. The 
Network focuses on reducing the risk of unemployment by 
facilitating smooth labour market transitions.  

The PES Network is proactive in organising Mutual 
Learning events, these promote potential improvements 
to delivery systems and enable learning dialogues in 
response to analysis of both recent results and emerging 
trends. The programme is flexible and informed by both 
information obtained from Benchlearning and rapid 
responses to crisis situations. This helps PES to identify 
strengths and areas for improvement via peer support. It 
encourages a culture of empowerment and continuous 
improvement in the delivery of customer-centred services. 

This enables PES to overcome barriers to change and 
supports knowledge transfer on approaches to equipping  
jobseekers to face the challenges presented by new ways 
of working.  

The outputs from these PES Network activities support 
policymakers and stakeholders at European and national 
levels with knowledge and insights. This is used to 
improve the design and delivery of active labour market 
programmes and create better legislation and regulation. 

The reputation of PES is enhanced through the Network’s 
promotion of their initiatives and supports the business 
case for investment in PES services. This illustrates 
the return on investment yielded by increasing capacity in 
quality services.

 | 15

5

PES PARTNERSHIPS AND THE  
EMPLOYMENT SERVICE 
ECOSYSTEM 

The PES Network collects and utilises client information 
to deliver its mission and realise its vision. It commissions 
studies and obtains input from national PES as well as 
a variety of pan-European organisations. The knowledge 
received is systemised to provide insights on the potential 
added value from improved PES services. The Network 
therefore interacts with a range of stakeholders 
from across Europe, as well as organisations with a 
global remit, including the World Association of Public 
Employment Services (WAPES), the International Labour 

Organisation (ILO), World Bank and the Organisation for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 

The Network interacts with: 

Jobseekers – through sharing their expectations and 
experiences. This information informs PES of areas in 
need of adaptation and improvement. It enables the 
development of customer-centric services that are 
adapted to improve integration support. Jobseekers  

Labour market
ecosystem

Employers
organisations

NGOs

Municipal
and
Regional
authorities

Private
Employment
Agencies

Social
Partners

Evolving labour mark
ur market shocks
ging societie
PES
Ch

n
a

o
b
a
L

s

et
s

Temporary
Work
Agencies

Education
& training
providers

Local
communities

Social
service
providers

PES increasingly need to work in partnership with an ‘ecosystem of employment services’ to deliver the support needed by 
jobseekers, workers and employers - demonstrating adaptability and flexibility in responding to the needs of the labour market.

16 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

begin their journey with a great variety of support 
needs. Each may take advantage of PES assistance by 
committing to agreed reintegration pathways, enabling 
them to develop competencies and skills to access labour 
market opportunities. Developing autonomy by accessing 
both formal and informal networks allow PES clients to 
make more informed choices about their future career 
direction. 

Employers – by cooperating in exchanging labour market 
knowledge and providing feedback on PES services, to 
advise them of their requirements. This enables PES to 
develop solutions for recruitment needs, address labour 
market challenges, and contribute to human capital 
development. Employer feedback also assists PES in 
developing recruitment packages to foster inclusiveness 
and challenge discrimination.

European institutions, including regulators – by 
working together to increase the visibility of the  
PES Network. This is achieved through data visualisation 
and by sharing information from labour market analysis. 
The process supports the exchange of information on best 
practices and new ways of working. There is a focus on 
what has worked well to assist change management and 
promote lifelong learning.

Network members – the Network facilitates close 
cooperation with stakeholders at European level. This 
benefits results-orientated national PES by helping them 
to apply people and business-centred approaches.  The 
national PES can utilise big data to enhance analysis, 
especially forecasting, to proactively engage jobseekers 
and employers. This enables continuous improvement 
towards increasing capacity through upskilling and 
training. Differentiated support packages are offered to 
different target groups.

The employment service ecosystem is promoted by, 
and encourages, improved digital connections, which 
expands the scope to share data and information. This 
enables PES, other service providers, and employers, 
to collaborate in service delivery. It encourages the 
development of a shared understanding between PES 
and their partners of the issues faced by jobseekers 
in achieving labour market integration. It supports the 
development of shared strategies to produce mutual 
solutions that promote positive transitions, which in 
turn help combat social and labour market exclusion. 
Customers are therefore offered increased choice and 
more personalised support, including by taking advantage 
of the potential for enhanced digital services and 
follow-up. These developments can promote jobseeker 
autonomy and sustained labour market integration. 

The ecosystem operates to its best effect when PES and 
their partners can achieve an optimum balance between 
supporting wider objectives and meeting their specific 
organisational requirements. It particularly focuses on 
establishing support systems to assist the integration 
of people from vulnerable groups. These include youth, 
people with disabilities and migrants. It brings together 
PES with a range of other actors, including:

-  non-governmental organisations
-  education and training providers (both public and 

private) 

-  municipal and regional authorities
-  social support service providers (e.g. social insurance, 

housing agencies, health services)

-  employers’ organisations 
-  social partners 
- 
-  private employment agencies 
temporary work agencies. 
- 

local stakeholders/communities

 | 17

6

THE CHANGE TRAJECTORY –  
MEETING FUTURE 
CHALLENGES 

The Network encourages PES to transform their 
services to assist them in meeting changing employment 
needs. It therefore supports both social inclusion and 
the development of labour market skills requirements. It 
particularly focuses on equipping PES to address skills gaps, 
including considering the potential from growth sectors. 

The Network identifies and disseminates information on 
service improvement initiatives that can mitigate the 
impact of disruption from globalisation, automation, and 

fluctuating demand. And to assist PES in dealing with crisis 
situations and periods of labour market uncertainty, the 
Network has a specific role in facilitating the sharing of 
knowledge and information and formulating guidelines. 

The Network’s wide-ranging work programme has been 
designed to deliver these outcomes. Its various elements 
will be flexibly implemented and updated as necessary to 
meet the requirements of specific situations, and to adapt 
to the continually evolving labour market landscape.

For further information on the PES Network, see:

•  Decision (EU) 2020/1782 of the European Parliament and the Council (amending Decision 573/2014/EU) on 

enhanced co-operation between Public Employment Services.

•  The PES Network homepage
•  Videos “Get to know the Network” and “The power of PES Partnerships”
•  The Knowledge Centre and the PES Practices database
•  Latest news
•  Latest events 

18 | PES Network Strategy: European Network of Public Employment Services

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20 | SECTION III