New EU funding for ideas to reduce long-term unemployment

The Commission has launched a 23 million eurocall for proposals to help EU Member States develop new ways to combat long-term unemployment and facilitate people’s re-entry into the labour market. This was announced in the recent action plan to tackle labour and skills shortages in the EU.

Through this call for proposals, funded under the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) initiative “Social Innovation +”, the Commission aims to build on previous promising initiatives and strengthen the role of social economy organisations. These organisations prioritise social and environmental goals and reinvest most of their profits in their initiatives. They have a proven capacity to support people who have suffered isolation and poverty as a result of long-term unemployment.

New approaches to helping people into employment

While employment figures in the EU are at an all-time high of 75.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023, tackling long-term unemployment, i.e. for a period of more than one year, remains a problem in many Member States. In 2022, 4.5 million people over the age of 25 in the EU were registered as long-term unemployed.

The longer a person remains unemployed, the more difficult it is for them to find a job, which increases their risk of poverty and social exclusion. Traditional measures, such as training without individualised support, are often insufficient to tackle the problem effectively.

In search of solutions, a recent EU-funded report has highlighted the potential of innovative approaches such as so-called “job guarantees” to help the long-term unemployed re-enter the labour market. These measures help to find or create jobs that match people’s profiles, while addressing the needs of their local communities. These schemes can have great benefits: they can provide useful services at an affordable cost to the local community, they offer a new avenue to employment for people who have been out of work for a long time, and they help to fill skills and employment gaps.

Through these initiatives, the long-term unemployed can begin to develop financial independence, career growth and self-confidence; this improves their employment prospects in the wider labour market and enhances their social and economic inclusion.

Examples of innovative approaches

The report on “Job guarantees and other innovative approaches” highlighted examples of initiatives successfully supporting the long-term unemployed. For example:

• The Marienthal Job Guarantee pilot project in Austria offers employment with fair remuneration to all long-term unemployed people.
• In France, the “Territories without long-term unemployment” initiative helps to recruit people who have been unemployed for at least one year. It assesses people’s skills and aspirations, matches them with the needs of the community and creates jobs that respond to these needs. The project redirects savings from cash benefits otherwise paid to the unemployed towards the creation of these jobs.
• A similar approach has also been introduced in Belgium, with seventeen territories without long-term unemployment, and will be launched in Wallonia, with the support of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).
• The Strong Basic Income Initiative in Berlin(Germany) aims to combat long-term unemployment by offering 1,000 job opportunities for people who have been unemployed for up to five years.

Eurostat records changes in employment rates in the EU

EU action to support Member States

This afternoon, the European Commission will take part in an event organised by the Committee of the Regions to discuss how the EU institutions can work together to help Member States tackle the issue of long-term unemployment.

The event will be attended by European Committee of the Regions President Vasco Alves Cordeiro, and Employment and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, together with Members of the European Parliament, members of the Committee of the Regions and other high-level speakers.

The event will be streamed online with interpretation available in English, French and Spanish.

Next steps

Organisations have until 30 September 2024 to submit their proposals, following the instructions on the call’s website, which must involve organisations from at least two different EU countries, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway and Serbia. Projects can last up to 36 months and can receive grants of between one and three million euros per project.

An online session on 28 May 2024 will provide an opportunity to ask questions about the call, and a networking session will also be organised to facilitate the creation of new partnerships to develop projects. Information on both sessions will be available on the call website.

Background

The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) is the European Union’s main instrument for investing in people and supporting the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. With ¤95.1 billion from the EU budget for the period 2021-2027, ESF+ makes an important contribution to EU policies in the social, employment, education and skills fields, including structural reforms in these areas.

Under ESF+, the Social Innovation+ initiative is dedicated to developing and transferring innovative solutions to social problems, in particular in the fields of employment, education, skills and social inclusion.

More information: European Commission