REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the operation and effects of Regulation (EU) 2016/589 on a European network of employment services (EURES), workers' access to mobility services and the further integration of labour markets (submitted pursuant to Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2016/589)
Date: 2021-08-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: EURES, application of EU law, employment service, equal treatment, exchange of information, free movement of workers, frontier worker, job access, job vacancy, labour mobility

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.8.2021  COM(2021) 452 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the operation and effects of Regulation (EU) 2016/589 on a European network of employment services (EURES), workers' access to mobility services and the further integration of labour markets  (submitted pursuant to Article 35 of Regulation (EU) 2016/589)   {SWD(2021) 217 final}  
 
 
Table of Contents 

1 

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 2 

1.1  What is EURES? .................................................................................................. 2 

1.2 

Implementation / state of play ............................................................................. 3 

2 

EVALUATION FINDINGS ................................................................................................................. 4 

2.1  Relevance ............................................................................................................. 4 

2.2  Effectiveness ........................................................................................................ 5 

2.3  Efficiency ............................................................................................................. 6 

2.4  Coherence ............................................................................................................ 6 

2.5  EU added value .................................................................................................... 7 

3 

CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNT ...................................................................................... 7 

3.1  Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 7 

3.2  Lessons learnt ...................................................................................................... 8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
1 

INTRODUCTION 

1.1  What is EURES? 

The  European  Commission  launched  EURES  in  1994,  as  a  network  of  employment  services  and 
related  organizations.  Currently  EURES  is  a  network  of  219  Members  and  Partners  across  the  EU 
and  EFTA  Member  States  committed  to  facilitate  fair  labour  mobility.  All  Public  Employment 
Services are Members of the network. 

EURES offers information and provides assistance to jobseekers and employers across Europe every 
day via its network of more than 1 000 advisers. EURES services are also provided online through 
the  EURES  portal.  In  addition  to  these  general  services  to  any  jobseeker  and  employer,  EURES 
offers  targeted  support  to  specific  groups  (e.g.  young  jobseekers,  long-term  unemployed)  or  areas 
(cross-border regions). 

Currently, EURES is the only international mobility service that covers all kinds of jobseekers and 
employers, for free, in their own languages, both face-to-face and online, in a large economic region. 

EURES  overall  European  coordination  was  provided  by  the  European  Commission  (DG EMPL) 
until  the  European  Labour  Authority  took  over  in  May  2021  as  foreseen  in  ELA  founding 
Regulation1. At country level, national coordinators facilitate the work of the Members and Partners. 
These provide direct services to jobseekers and employers, and share their vacancies and CVs in the 
EURES portal. 

Since  2016,  the  EURES  Regulation  (EU)  2016/589  is  the  legal  framework  for  the  network.  The 
main  changes  introduced  by  the  Regulation  include:  improved  transparency  of  the  network  and 
services  delivered;  better  matching  between  labour  demand  and  supply  through  an  increase  of  job 
vacancies and CVs on the EURES portal; the enlargement of the network through the admission of 
new EURES Members and Partners, in particular the opening towards private employment services; 
and the development of minimum standards for the provision of support services. 

The  Regulation  requires  that  by  13  May  2021,  the  Commission  shall  submit  to  the  European 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the 
Regions an ex post evaluation report of the operation and effects of this Regulation. That report may 
be  accompanied  by  legislative  proposals  amending  this  Regulation.  Therefore  this  report,  which 
presents the underlying analysis made in the accompanying Staff Working Document, provides the 
evaluation of the implementation of the EURES reform as introduced in the 2016 Regulation and the 
lessons learned throughout this exercise 

1 See articles 44 & 47 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 of 20 June 2019 establishing a European Labour Authority. 

2 

 
 
                                                 
1.2 

Implementation / state of play 

The  implementation  of  the  EURES  Regulation  is  advancing.  Organisational,  communication  and 
monitoring aspects have been fully implemented throughout the network, but further progress is still 
needed in the following areas:  

  The  broadening  of  the  network  happens  at  a  slow  pace.  While  all  EURES  countries  have 
established or started preparing an admission system2, at the end of 2020, only half of them have 
reported to have admitted new Members and Partners.  

  The  transparent  exchange  of  job  vacancies  and  CVs  between  national  databases  and  the 
EURES  portal  is  still  to  be  completed:  All  EURES  countries  have  set  up  a  system  for 
transferring  job  vacancies,  but  seven  Member  States  are  not  transferring  yet  CVs  through  the 
single coordinated channel3. 

  The EURES portal was updated with new search functionalities and design. The work towards 
an  automated  matching  on  the  EURES  portal  is  ongoing,  but  pending  on  the  mapping  of 
national  classification  systems  to  the  European  Skills/Competences,  Qualifications  and 
Occupations classification (ESCO) by the deadline (7 August 2021)4.  

  The harmonised planning and performance measurement across the EURES network is in 
use  since  2018  by  all  EURES  countries.  The  activities  are  planned  and  monitored  through  a 
common tool that provides a yearly overview of the planned and implemented activities of the 
network  at  national  level.  The  overall  performance  of  EURES  is  measured  through  a 
harmonized system introduced in 2018. However, so far, not all EURES countries provide all 
reporting data with the appropriate quality. 

Therefore, implementation efforts are still ongoing. The reasons explaining why the implementation 
is not completed include: 
  To complete the legal framework for EURES, it was necessary to adopt six implementing acts. 
They  were  adopted  in  2017  and  2018.  Furthermore,  the  provision  of  CVs  and  vacancies  by 
EURES  Members  entered  into  force  on  13  May  2018,  and  the  harmonized  classification 
allowing automated matching (ESCO) will enter into force after the deadline for this evaluation. 
Some of the  essential changes of the Regulation, particularly the enlargement of the  Network 
through  national  admission  systems,  and  the  provision  of  CVs,  required  additional  legislative 
adaptations  in  some  Member  States.  These  have  been  the  areas  where  Member  States  have 
acted more reluctantly, particularly after the introduction of the GDPR in 2018. 

 

  The  implementation  at  national  level  was  performed  without  direct  additional  resources  from 
the  EU  budget.  Member  States  had  to  fund  EURES  actions  from  their  own  sources  (either 
national budgets or operational programmes from the European Social Fund).  

2 The non-EU EURES countries have not yet started the work on admission as the Regulation was taken over in late 2019 

by the EEA Joint Committee and the implementation at national level is under way.   

3 On 19 November 2019, the Commission sent administrative letters to the Member States that did not yet comply with 
the provisions of the EURES Regulation, in particular the CV exchange and the admission system. Depending on the 
planned  compliance  dates  indicated  in  the  replies  to  these  letters,  further  monitoring  and  analysis  of  the 
implementation, the Commission will consider further actions. 

4 According to Article 19(3) of the EURES Regulation and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1021. 

3 

 
 
                                                 
As a consequence, the evaluation comes at a moment when the costs of the reform are evident, but 
not all the positive effects are observable yet. 

2  EVALUATION FINDINGS 

This  chapter  summarises  the  evaluation  findings  of  the  EURES  Regulation  along  the  five  criteria 
defined by the Better Regulation Guidelines: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU-
added value. 

2.1  Relevance 

The  EURES  tools  and  services  are  generally  considered  as  relevant  to  address  intra-EU  labour 
mobility needs, although to different extents. The support to jobseekers and employers is generally 
well suited to address obstacles to intra-EU labour mobility such as lack of transparent information 
and administrative barriers. Tackling language barriers, facilitate the recognition of qualifications or 
post-recruitment  assistance  are  services  not  widespread  throughout  the  network,  therefore  EURES 
support is considered less relevant in these areas. The EURES portal is seem as relevant to address 
information gaps and to provide access to a large pool of job vacancies and CVs, thus responding to 
the difficulties that employers are facing in finding profiles with relevant skills. 

The Regulation makes EURES a public service available to all workers and employers across the 
Union without exceptions, preventing creaming and parking effects (i.e. “cherry-picking”), whereas 
private hiring platforms and matching on social media mainly target qualified customers that pay for 
their  services,  are  fluent  in  English  and  can  handle  autonomously  relocation  and  administrative 
procedures without personal counselling. 

The  actual  use  of  EURES  depends  on  which  individuals  would  like  to  exercise  their  right  of  free 
movement. The evaluation finds that EURES addresses to a wide extent the needs of employers and 
jobseekers facing obstacles to labour mobility within the EU, particularly in cross-border regions, as 
well  as  younger  jobseekers  or  jobseekers  with  higher  qualifications.  Recent  developments  make 
returning and seasonal workers increasingly relevant groups whose needs should be further looked 
at  by  EURES.  The  wide  portfolio  of  EURES  tools  and  services  has  proven  adequately  flexible  to 
cater for the various and fast changing needs of the European labour market. It also corresponds well 
to  the  “raison  d’etre”  of  public  employment  services  that  at  all  times  are  responsible  for 
implementing  active  labour  market  policies  and  providing  employment  services  in  the  public 
interest. 

Overall,  the  reformed  EURES  network  has  been  able  to  adapt  to  changes  in  the  implementation 
context  (i.e.  labour  mobility  trends,  technological  advancements,  COVID-19  disruption),  albeit 
depending  on  national  strategies  and  priorities.  Three  main  mechanisms  provide  a  platform  for 
EURES  countries  to  identify  changes  in  the  implementation  context:  exchange  of  information; 
participation  and  discussions  in  EURES  Coordination  Group  meetings;  and  the  harmonized 
programming.  However,  these  mechanisms  have  so  far  not  ensured  that  the  network  addresses  the 
identified changes in  a coordinated manner. For  example, only half of the countries adapt  services 
and activities based on a thorough assessment of the labour market conditions. In another  instance, 

4 

 
 
while  recruitment  events  such  as  European  Online  Job  Days  continued  being  implemented  despite 
the COVID-19 disruption, EURES support services in some countries had to be interrupted because 
of  reallocation  of  resources  following  shifts  in  national  priorities,  impacting  the  availability  of  the 
network as a whole. 

2.2  Effectiveness 

The  EURES  services  defined  by  the  Regulation  and  provided  through  the  portal,  advisers  and 
mobility  schemes  result  in  intra-EU  placements  and  promote  fair  working  conditions  and  higher 
awareness of intra-EU labour mobility opportunities. For instance, the verified placements as result 
of  EURES  intervention  increased  from  28  934  in  2016  to  76  210  in  2019,  while  the  real  figure  is 
likely to be higher, with a conservative estimate for 2019 of 83 360 placements. EURES contributes 
to around 10% of the cross-border placements, a figure in line with the PES share in their national 
context.  However,  the  fact  that  the  enlargement  of  the  network,  the  full  exchange  of  CVs  and  the 
automated matching are not fully implemented yet reduces its overall effectiveness. 

The network seems collectively more effective than the sum of the national contributions because the 
inter-dependence  of  national  labour  markets  makes  EURES  national  success  dependent  on  the 
support  of  EURES  in  other  countries.  There  is  no  evidence  that  EURES  is  more  effective  in 
particular countries over time. The evaluation does not determine either a subset of the services as 
the most effective ones but  suggests keeping the current  approach of providing a wide portfolio to 
cater for the evolving needs of the labour market. 

The  support  services  provided  by  EURES  advisers  are  overall  assessed  as  of  high-value,  good 
quality, and leading to sustainable results, as they are tailored to individuals’ needs. The satisfaction 
rates of jobseekers (70%) and employers (84%) are comparable to those of PES. However, there are 
differences  in  the  quality  of  service  provision  across  the  network,  which  can  be  explained  by 
differences in resources available at national level. Also, national differences in the legislation leave 
traineeships  and  apprenticeships  out  of  the  scope  of  PES  in  some  countries,  limiting  the  ability  of 
EURES to support younger workers with employment opportunities. 

EURES  mobility  schemes  and  cross-border  partnerships  complement  the  EURES  support 
services by supporting selected target groups. 

While the EURES portal increases the access to job vacancies and CVs, its effectiveness is expected 
to  further  increase  once  a  fully  automated  matching  will  be  in  place.  In  addition,  not  all  national 
vacancies are available on the portal yet.  

The  organisational  structure of EURES as defined by the Regulation,  enlarging the network and 
mainstreaming  EURES  services  within  Public  Employment  Services  (PES),  is  largely  suitable  to 
support  intra-EU  labour  mobility  effectively.  The  admission  of  additional  Members  and  Partners 
enhances knowledge exchange and the provision of services to more customers. However, the level 
of  services  delivered  by  the  various  Members  and  Partners  depends  on  their  individual  interest, 
which  might  have  a  negative  impact  on  the  quality  of  service  across  the  network.  Mainstreaming 
EURES services into the PES increases the quality of EURES services but reduces the visibility of 
EURES. 

5 

 
EURES is not visible enough among labour market participants, which reduces its effectiveness. In 
this regard, employers appear less aware of EURES compared to jobseekers. Recent communication 
and  promotion  activities  have  raised  awareness  of  EURES  but  their  effects  were  hampered  by 
funding  constraints,  limited  cooperation  across  stakeholders  and  lack  of  a  common  approach 
regarding the promotion of the network. 

2.3  Efficiency 

The  available  information  suggests  that  cost-effectiveness  of  EURES  has  increased  since  the 
introduction of the EURES Regulation, as shown in the following table: 

Table 1: Cost-effectiveness analysis (2019 - 2016, in EUR). Source: EURES ex-post evaluation. 

EURES outcome indicator 

2016 

2019 

Net saving 

Cost per placement achieved 

Cost per individual contact 

Cost per job vacancy transferred to the portal 

473.53 

288.10 

185.42 

13.60 

2.74 

11.88 

1.24 

1.71 

1.50 

Benchmarking of EURES with Public Employment Services’ (PES) activities has provided evidence 
that the cost  of EURES can be  interpreted  as a small  top-up to  the PES cost,  expanding in  a cost-
effective  manner  the  scope  of  the  activities  from  national  to  cross-border  placements.  EURES 
efficiency seems more determined by the network effect than by national aspects. 

Although  the  investment  in  the  single  coordinated  channel  and  the  EURES  portal  is  considered 
proportionate  by  the  national  coordinators,  the  benefits  are  not  completely  visible  yet.  This  is 
underlined by the fact that countries currently do not transfer all the available vacancies through the 
channel.  Important  efficiency  gains  are  expected  from  the  full  implementation  of  the  automated 
matching between vacancies and jobseekers' profiles, to be completed once Member States integrate 
the European Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) classification. 

The  EURES  Regulation  brought  new  administrative  requirements,  including:  the  request  to 
expand  the  national  network  by  admitting  new  EURES  Members  and  Partners  (and,  therefore,  the 
need to develop new admission procedures and in some instances also new legislation); mandatory 
and  more  harmonised  monitoring  and  reporting  requirements  (which  meant  developing  new 
procedures  and  tools);  and  the  obligation  to  establish  a  connection  between  the  national  job 
vacancies  and  CV  databases  with  the  EURES  portal  through  a  single  coordinated  channel.  The 
Regulation did not provide additional resources to implement these changes. In addition, the need to 
avoid of overlaps with related EU initiatives require increasing coordination efforts. As a result, the 
administrative workload has increased. While the benefits of a more consistent and better functioning 
network  are  expected  to  outweigh  the  costs  of  these  changes,  the  network  will  commonly  explore 
ways of simplification and administrative workload reduction. 

2.4  Coherence 

With  regard  to  external  coherence,  the  analysis  of  the  objectives  and  actions  of  other  European 
initiatives found that the EURES Regulation is complementary and consistent with such initiatives in 

6 

 
 
supporting  labour  mobility,  full  employment  and  integration  of  the  labour  markets.  Synergies 
between  EURES  activities  and  other  European  initiatives  are  in  place,  such  as  Erasmus+  (e.g. 
promotion of Erasmus opportunities by EURES staff), Interreg (e.g. provision of additional advice in 
cross-border  regions),  and  ESF  (e.g.  funding  EURES  staff  that  would  not  be  available  otherwise). 
However, for the following two tools, a better and closer cooperation is recommended: 
 
 

the Europass portal (which also has a job search function); 
the Your Europe portal (which also provides information relevant to mobile workers).     

With regard to  internal  coherence, the EURES services  and tools defined by the Regulation  have 
been developed in a consistent manner, with particular synergies emerging between EURES general 
support services and mobility schemes. The majority of EURES countries coordinate their activities 
across the network, especially on recruitment projects, although to a lesser extent on promotion and 
communication activities. While the objectives of all EURES actions are coherent and no overlaps 
were found in their implementation, EURES Members that are part of a cross-border partnership and 
the  national  EURES  network  face  reporting  overlaps.  Furthermore,  differences  in  financial  and 
human capital resources available to EURES countries can lead to inconsistencies in the quality and 
type of services delivered. At national level, there is also a potential risk of inconsistencies between 
Members and Partners, especially between public and private organisations that are characterised by 
different priorities and ways of working. 

2.5  EU added value 

Overall,  the  stakeholders  consulted  recognised  the  EU  added  value  of  the  EURES  Regulation,  as 
Member  States  alone  could  not  have  achieved  the  current  level  of  EURES  service  provision.  This 
refers especially to the provision of information and post-recruitment assistance, the support services 
to apprenticeships and traineeships, and the mobility schemes and cross-border partnerships.  

The scale of EURES actions is relatively small, covering approximately one tenth of the total intra-
EU labour mobility flows. Therefore, it is not possible to conclude that its actions are the only way to 
support intra-EU labour mobility in general. However, the evaluation findings show that the EURES 
Regulation  resulted  in  quicker  or  better  outcomes  for  customers  who  used  EURES  services, 
contributing to labour market integration. 

The  EURES  Regulation  provides  an  overarching  framework  and  common  vision  for  the 
collaboration  and  coordination  of  EURES  countries  in  the  field  of  labour  mobility.  It  also  ensures 
and promotes the protection of fair labour conditions and standards. The exchange of information on 
labour mobility and markets would have not happened in a structured way and with the same level of 
coordination without EURES. 

During  the  COVID-19  disruption,  the  EURES  structure  facilitated  the  quick  collection  of 
information  on  challenges  in  cross-border  regions.  Also  the  relative  autonomy  of  the  European 
Online Job Days from national resources allowed this service to continue, with 21 job days organized 
in 2020 despite the troubling period, against an average of 27 in previous years. 

7 

 
3  CONCLUSIONS AND LESSONS LEARNT 

3.1  Conclusions 

The  evaluation  of  the  Regulation  comes  at  a  moment  when  the  costs  of  the  reform  have  become 
evident, but not all the positive effects are observable yet. 

From the evidence collected, it can be concluded that the EURES tools and services defined in the 
Regulation  are  generally  relevant  to  address  intra-EU  labour  mobility  needs,  although  to  different 
extents. 

EURES  leads  to  intra-EU  placements,  promotes  fair  working  conditions  and  higher  awareness  of 
labour  mobility  opportunities.  The  effectiveness  of  EURES  is  comparable  to  Public  Employment 
Services  (PES)  in  the  national  context.  The  effectiveness  could  be  improved  by  a  quicker 
enlargement of the network, the full exchange of CVs and vacancies and the full implementation of 
automated matching. Such efforts are ongoing, a particular milestone will be the full adoption by the 
deadline  (7  August  2021)  of  the  European  Skills/Competences,  Qualifications  and  Occupations 
(ESCO) classification in all Member States,  following Article 19(3) of the EURES Regulation and 
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1021. 

EURES cannot support all younger workers with employment opportunities because traineeships and 
apprenticeships  are  out  of  the  scope  of  employment  services  in  some  countries  for  legal  reasons. 
Also, EURES visibility among labour market participants is limited, which affects its effectiveness. 

The Regulation makes EURES efficient. Cost-effectiveness of EURES has increased considering the 
cost per individual contact, vacancies transferred to the portal and placements achieved. The benefits 
of a more consistent and better functioning network outweigh the costs of the changes introduced by 
the Regulation. However, the benefits of the investment in the IT infrastructure are not completely 
visible yet while the administrative workload has increased. 

The EURES  Regulation  is  coherent with  other  European initiatives in  supporting labour mobility, 
full  employment  and  integration  of  the  labour  markets.  However,  a  better  and  closer  cooperation 
with the Europass portal and Your Europe portal would be advisable. 

The  EU  added  value  of  the  EURES  Regulation  is  confirmed  by  the  stakeholders  consulted,  as 
Member  States  alone  could  not  have  achieved  a  similar  level  of  support  to  cross-border  labour 
mobility. 

3.2  Lessons learnt 

The  conclusions  of  this  evaluation  lead  to  the  following  lessons  for  actions  improving  the 
implementation of the Regulation: 

Complete the implementation of automated matching.  All Members and Partners should ensure 
the transfer of job vacancies and CVs to the EURES portal, and complete the mapping or adoption of 
the  European  Skills/Competences,  Qualifications  and  Occupations  (ESCO)  classification,  to 
facilitate better matching results.  

8 

 
 
Align EURES, Europass and Your Europe portals. The European Commission and the European 
Labour  Authority  should  perform  an  analysis  of  potential  overlaps  of  information  and  services 
provision  on  Your  Europe  portal  (implementing  the  Single  Digital  Gateway  Regulation),  the 
Europass portal and the EURES portal. 

Strengthen  communication  to  ensure  EURES  visibility.  The  European  Coordination  Office 
should  develop  a  new  communication  strategy  achieving  unified  communication  at  all  levels 
targeted 
(regional,  national,  EU), 
communication  actions,  linking  communication  outputs  to  EURES  outcomes,  and  raising  the 
visibility of the EURES portal among search engines.  

identifying  additional  communication  channels,  defining 

Enhance  the  quality  of  service  delivery.  The  European  Commission  and  the  European  Labour 
Authority should support  the harmonisation  of the minimum level  of quality of  services  across the 
network, particularly post-recruitment assistance. 

Improve  and  simplify  monitoring  and  data  collection.  The  European  Commission  and  the 
European  Labour  Authority  in  cooperation  with  the  National  Coordination  Offices  should  further 
integrate  the  programming  and  monitoring  processes,  improve  and  simplify  data  collection,  and 
streamline  monitoring  deriving  from  EURES,  the  Single  Digital  Gateway,  and  the  Programme  for 
Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). 

Strengthen enlargement efforts. The National Coordination Offices should enhance their efforts in 
identifying, attracting and admitting new Members and Partners. The European Coordination Office 
should facilitate the process with guidance, support and knowledge exchange. 

Work on implementing these lessons is mostly ongoing, however, this evaluation allows to focus the 
efforts. In basically all areas, action and commitment at both European and national level is required. 
That  is  part  of  the  network-character  of  EURES.  Provided  that  this  network  character  is  beyond 
question, changes to the legal framework will not help to make progress,  on the contrary they will 
distract attention from the necessary next steps. Therefore, the Commission should continue to work 
on the full implementation of the EURES Regulation and use the opportunity of the regular reporting 
foreseen in Article 33 of the Regulation to complement the information of this evaluation. 

9