Today, the European Council adopted the Europaen Commission’s proposal of 17 September 2015 for a Recommendation on integrating the long-term unemployed into the labour market.
This initiative seeks to strengthen the support services offered to people who have been out of a job for more than a year in order to facilitate and speed-up their return to work.
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Labour Mobility and Skills, Marianne Thyssen, commented: “Long-term unemployment is one of the most acute challenges we currently face on our labour markets. We cannot afford jobseekers to become discouraged and entirely abandon the labour market. I am very pleased that the Council has swiftly agreed to the Commission’s initiative and I hope this political commitment will now quickly be translated in implementation on the ground. I am confident that this initiative offers the right support to help more than 10 million long-term unemployed people in the EU find a job again.”
The Recommendation includes three key steps: firstly, encouraging their registration with an employment service; secondly, providing them with an individual in-depth assessment of their abilities and needs, and finally, offering them a job integration agreement, at the very latest within18 months. These agreements will provide jobseekers with a tailored-made plan to help them return to work. It should be delivered through a single point of contact to ensure that the support provided is continuous and consistent.
