Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions on zero long-term unemployment: the local and regional perspective
Date: 2023-05-25
Institutions: Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture, European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU employment policy, employment aid, fight against unemployment, job creation, labour market, long-term unemployment, marginalisation, regional development, reintegration into working life








C_2023257EN.01001801.xml










21.7.2023   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 257/18






Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions on zero long-term unemployment: the local and regional perspective
(2023/C 257/04)












Rapporteur:


Yonnec POLET (BE/PES), 1st Deputy Mayor of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe









POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR),

Introductory remarks









1.


points out that the EU set itself the objective of ‘the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress’ (1);












2.


stresses that long-term unemployment, defined by Eurostat as the number of people who are out of work and have been actively seeking employment for at least a year (2), is still a challenge that needs to be met before the EU can achieve this objective. In 2021, long-term unemployment still affected 2,8 % of Europe’s active population, or nearly 6 million people (3);












3.


emphasises that in 2021, long-term unemployment affected 3,5 % of people aged 15 to 29 (4), or over 2,5 million young people in Europe;












4.


emphasises that nearly a quarter of people aged 15 to 64 in Europe are inactive (5), including those without work who have stopped actively seeking work after becoming discouraged and are no longer counted in employment statistics;












5.


points out that a high long-term unemployment rate is a sign that the labour market is not working properly, resulting in a loss of human resources and of skills for unemployed people, a loss of social security contributions and a loss of economic activity;












6.


highlights the social impact of long-term unemployment and the fact that it becomes harder to reintegrate into the labour market the longer one is unemployed;












7.


underlines the high cost to society of long-term unemployment and reiterates (6) that it is important to combat long-term unemployment to ensure social cohesion and avoid marginalising part of the population;












8.


emphasises that the European Pillar of Social Rights states that ‘[e]veryone has the right to timely and tailor-made assistance to improve employment or self-employment prospects’ and that ‘[t]he long-term unemployed have the right to an in-depth individual assessment at the latest at 18 months of unemployment’ (7);












9.


stresses that the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan sets clear objectives in terms of employment and poverty reduction and that the Porto declaration (8) reiterates these objectives while underlining the need to combat exclusion risks for particularly vulnerable social groups, including long-term unemployed people;












10.


points out that better preparing jobseekers for the demands of the labour market will help improve their job prospects, and welcomes the European Commission’s efforts to improve the continuous acquisition and updating of professional skills, including its proposal to make 2023 the European Year of Skills;












11.


regrets, however, the fact that there has been no initiative to combat long-term unemployment since the 2016 Council Recommendation (9), even though all Member States are facing this issue;












12.


emphasises that, for the people who are the furthest removed from the labour market, which includes long-term unemployed people, training is still too often hard to access and by itself does not enable them to return to work;












13.


reiterates its observation that ‘when the demand for labour stagnates [in a professional sector or locally] it is difficult for an unemployed person to find work, even if they have an individualised training programme’ (10);












14.


stresses the need to put forward an employment solution for everyone, including long-term unemployed people;





The ‘zero long-term unemployment’ approach: a local innovation for returning to work









15.


notes that employment deprivation costs more than creating additional jobs;












16.


highlights the innovative nature and social and solidarity economy approach of a number of ‘zero long-term unemployment’ area experiments and stresses that all these initiatives redirect the cost of long-term unemployment towards creating decent jobs that are useful to the areas in which they are developed;












17.


points out that these initiatives have been carried out in at least four EU Member States: in France since 2016, in Belgium since 2022, and under the names ‘job guarantee’ in Gramatneusiedl in Austria and ‘Basisbaan’ in Groningen in the Netherlands since 2020;












18.


notes that these initiatives are largely based on common principles:






(a)


no one is unemployable when jobs are tailored to people’s abilities and skills, and there are both jobs that are not provided on the labour market and activities and services that are not provided by either the private or the public sector;










(b)


long-term unemployed people take part on a voluntary basis, which, unlike forced work or conditional support, enables them to take real ownership, and schemes are extended to people who are no longer registered with public employment services;










(c)


high-quality jobs are created based on jobseekers’ skills and individual situations, in particular their health and family circumstances;










(d)


participants are paid at least the minimum wage, have customised working hours and are given permanent contracts;










(e)


a service is provided that benefits the whole area without creating competition with existing businesses;










(f)


a participatory, inclusive approach is taken, initiated at local level with the public and all relevant stakeholders;
















19.


points out that these initiatives fall under the four areas of action highlighted in the 2016 Council Recommendation on long-term unemployment, namely better mobilisation of long-term unemployed people, an individualised approach, greater cooperation with local employment stakeholders and a partnership with local employers and local communities; further stresses that the 2023 Council Recommendation (11) on adequate minimum income recommends supporting work opportunities in the social economy sector, as well as individualised support;












20.


notes that the jobs created in ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and under the ‘job guarantee’ and ‘Basisbaan’ initiatives expand the range of social, environmental and commercial services that are available and accessible to people and businesses in the local area, and that these services were not previously provided by either public authorities or private players in these areas;












21.


points out that the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and the ‘job guarantee’ and ‘Basisbaan’ initiatives have created jobs in areas as varied as market gardening, recycling, bicycle repair, cleaning of associations’ premises, business services, concierge services, delivery, social supermarkets, care and other circular economy activities, thus contributing to the green transition and the development of care provision in the EU;












22.


stresses that, in addition to the individual and collective economic benefits associated with people returning to work, these initiatives help to improve long-term unemployed people’s access to training, health prospects, including mental health, opportunities for interaction, social inclusion and well-being, while strengthening social cohesion in their communities;












23.


notes that these initiatives involve consultation and coordination with local employment stakeholders, including enabling social services in order to build consensus at local level and stresses the importance of consulting and co-creating with local economic players, enabling services and social partners to ensure that these initiatives are accepted and successful;












24.


emphasises that this co-creation benefits local economic players, either in direct relation to their business when unemployed people are placed in companies, for example under Austria’s ‘job guarantee’ scheme, or indirectly through the services and economic activity developed in the area in which they are based;












25.


stresses that such coordination can also help with the implementation of other active labour market policies, including training, and the establishment of single contact points for jobseekers;





Local and regional dimension









26.


underlines the key role of local and regional authorities in setting up schemes to combat long-term unemployment, such as the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas, especially since they have information on the local labour market, provide enabling services for social and labour market inclusion and have links with local businesses and local social partners. The example of the State of Berlin, funding 1 000 jobs for the period 2019-2025 for people who had been unemployed from 1 to 3 years through its ‘Solidary Basic Income’ project, is yet another best practice in this direction;












27.


calls on local and regional authorities to put in place schemes based on the fundamental principles of the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and the ‘job guarantee’ initiative by redirecting the cost of unemployment towards the creation of decent jobs;












28.


encourages local and regional authorities that have put in place such initiatives to involve local business leaders and trade union representatives in the various stages of the project, in particular in order to prevent any competition with existing activities and to ensure compliance with the collective agreements in force in the sectors concerned;












29.


encourages local and regional authorities to exchange views and share best practices concerning schemes combatting long-term unemployment with other local and regional authorities both domestically and in other Member States;





Funding ‘zero long-term unemployment’ initiatives









30.


stresses the importance of activating passive expenditure to ensure the success of ‘zero long-term unemployment’ initiatives and notes that this makes it possible to offset the costs of creating additional jobs with the savings made in terms of unemployment benefits, social benefits and healthcare costs paid by social security institutions;












31.


notes that, in France, an ad hoc fund for activating this expenditure was created in 2016 under the territorial experimentation law aimed at reducing long-term unemployment (12), to enable national resources to be allocated to creating jobs at local level;












32.


points out that financial support is provided by the ESF+ for the ‘Basisbaan’ initiative in the Netherlands and the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas in Wallonia as there is no mechanism for activating passive expenditure in the Member States in question;





Funding through the Member States









33.


stresses the importance of close cooperation between local employment stakeholders and regional and/or national social security institutions, and local social services;












34.


calls on the Member States to adopt the necessary measures to activate passive expenditure related to long-term unemployment;












35.


encourages the Member States to put in place the necessary structures to effectively activate passive expenditure related to long-term unemployment and to ensure that the savings made on benefits are effectively passed on to the local and regional authorities bearing the costs of initiatives put in place to combat long-term unemployment;












36.


emphasises that, where there is no mechanism for activating passive expenditure related to long-term unemployment, funding or joint funding provided at national or regional level helps the most relevant authorities to put in place initiatives to combat long-term unemployment by easing their financial burden;





Coordinating initiatives to combat long-term unemployment









37.


points out that, in 2016, the Council urged the Commission to ‘[s]upport social innovation projects to integrate long-term unemployed persons into the labour market’ (13);












38.


welcomes the European Commission’s intention (14) to further support the replication of social economy success stories in all Member States;












39.


draws attention to the success of the Youth Guarantee, in particular the individualised approach taken towards jobseekers, an aspect it shares with ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and the ‘job guarantee’ initiative;












40.


stresses that, by aiming to systematically offer a tailor-made solution to all young people, the Youth Guarantee has already made it possible to put in place mechanisms and methodologies that are essential for rolling out initiatives similar to the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and the ‘job guarantee’ initiative in many Member States;












41.


calls on the European Commission to map these initiatives, including by mobilising its European Network of Public Employment Services;












42.


suggests that the European Commission propose guidelines for implementing such initiatives in other EU Member States, based on the principles listed in point 17;












43.


undertakes to include these initiatives on the Committee of the Regions’ digital platform for best practices;





Access to EU funding









44.


stresses the role of the ESF+ as a source of funding for ‘zero long-term unemployment’ projects for local authorities that are not yet benefiting from the activation of passive expenditure related to long-term unemployment or are not being strongly supported by the national and regional authorities;












45.


calls for some ESF+ funds to be earmarked for local ‘zero long-term unemployment’ initiatives in order to overcome these difficulties, in particular in the form of support for starting up and developing projects at local level;












46.


urges the Commission, for the Council recommendation on developing framework conditions for the social economy announced for 2023, to propose facilitating access to EU funding for social and solidarity-based enterprises involved in combating long-term unemployment, including funding earmarked for social investment and skills under the InvestEU fund, in order to facilitate the implementation of ‘zero long-term unemployment’ projects;












47.


points out that the establishment of the EU Youth Employment Initiative in 2013, coupled with significant financial support to the tune of EUR 8,9 billion over the period 2014-2020, enabled the Youth Guarantee to be successfully implemented and allowed more than 24 million young people to find work or start a further training course, apprenticeship or traineeship;












48.


reiterates the recommendation it made in its opinion on The integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (15), drawn up by Enrico Rossi, to tackle long-term unemployment more effectively through extraordinary initiatives, such as the creation of an ad hoc fund to combat long-term unemployment;












49.


calls on the Commission to set up this ad hoc fund to combat long-term unemployment, modelling it on the Youth Employment Initiative and providing at least EUR 750 million in funding over five years in order to launch new pilot projects inspired by the ‘zero long-term unemployment’ areas and the ‘job guarantee’ in the regions most affected by long-term unemployment in each EU Member State.





Brussels, 25 May 2023.


The President of the European Committee of the Regions

Vasco ALVES CORDEIRO




(1)  Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union.

(2)  Council Recommendation of 15 February 2016 on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 67, 20.2.2016, p. 1).

(3)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/une_ltu_a/default/table?lang=en

(4)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/yth_empl_130/default/table?lang=en

(5)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/LFSA_IPGA/default/table

(6)  Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — The integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 120, 5.4.2016, p. 27).

(7)  https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/economy-works-people/jobs-growth-and-investment/european-pillar-social-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en

(8)  https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/05/08/the-porto-declaration/

(9)  Council Recommendation of 15 February 2016 on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 67, 20.2.2016, p. 1).

(10)  Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — The integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 120, 5.4.2016, p. 27).

(11)  Council Recommendation of 30 January 2023 on adequate minimum income ensuring active inclusion (OJ C 41, 3.2.2023, p. 1).

(12)  Act No 2016-231 of 29 February 2016 on territorial experimentation aimed at reducing long-term unemployment.

(13)  Council Recommendation of 15 February 2016 on the integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 67, 20.2.2016, p. 1).

(14)  COM(2021) 778 final.

(15)  Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — The integration of the long-term unemployed into the labour market (OJ C 120, 5.4.2016, p. 27).