Legal provisions of COM(2023)724 - EURES activity July 2020 - June 2022 Submitted pursuant to Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2016/589

Please note

This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.

dossier COM(2023)724 - EURES activity July 2020 - June 2022 Submitted pursuant to Article 33 of Regulation (EU) 2016/589.
document COM(2023)724
date November 28, 2023

 


Table of Contents

Executive summary 1

Key Acronyms 3

1 Introduction 4

2 Main activities of the EURES network: July 2020 – June 2022 4

2.1 Activities in EURES countries 4

2.1.1 General support services for workers and employers 4

2.1.2 Specific support services 5

2.1.3 Resources and governance 6

2.2 Horizontal support activities from the EURES European Coordination Office 9

2.2.1 Coordination and governance support 9

2.2.2 Operation and development of the EURES portal and related IT support 9

2.2.3 Training and professional development 10

2.2.4 Networking, exchange of good practice and mutual learning 11

2.2.5 Information and communication activities 11

2.2.6 Analysis of geographical and occupational mobility 12

2.2.7 Development of an appropriate cooperation and clearance structure for apprenticeships and traineeships 12

2.2.8 Financial resources 12

3 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION IN THE MEMBER STATES 12

3.1 Composition of the network and organisational matters 13

3.1.1 Implementation 13

3.1.2 Challenges 13

3.2 Governance and interaction with organisations outside the EURES network 13

3.2.1 Implementation 13

3.2.2 Challenges 14

3.3 Broadening the network 14

3.3.1 Implementation 14

3.3.2 Challenges 14

3.4 Job vacancies and CV exchanges 15

3.4.1 Implementation 15

3.4.2 Challenges 15

3.5 Support services 16

3.5.1 Implementation 16

3.5.2 Challenges 17

3.6 Information exchange, programming, and performance measurement 17

3.6.1 Implementation 17

3.6.2 Challenges 17

3.7 Recommendations addressed from the previous reporting period 17

4 Implementation of the Regulation by the European Commission and the European Coordination office 18

4.1 Regulation requirements 18

4.2 Implementation 19

4.3 Challenges 19

4.4 Recommendations addressed from the previous reporting period 20

5 Conclusions and Recommendations 21

5.1 Conclusions 21

5.2 Recommendations to European Coordination Office, managed by the European Labour Authority 22

5.3 Key takeaways for the Commission 24

Executive summary

This Biennial Report provides an overview of the activities carried out by the EURES network between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2022 as well as a description of the state of play of the application of the EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/589 as of June 2022 as provided for in Article 33 of this Regulation. It is to be noted that the period covered in the report was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which caused the closure of borders, several lockdowns and restricted travel.

Launched in 1994, EURES is a cooperation network between the European Commission (EC), the European Labour Authority (ELA), the national Public Employment Services (PES) and other admitted organisations in all the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and, in parts of the reference period, the United Kingdom (hereafter: ‘EURES countries’). The main goal of the EURES network is the support of fair intra-EU labour mobility. EURES services are delivered through the EURES staff across all the EURES countries, and the European job mobility portal (‘EURES portal’).

As required in the EURES regulation, an ex-post evaluation of the EURES activities and effects of this regulation was published in 2021 by the Commission. Several areas of improvements have been identified in this evaluation, and the present report aims to provide an overview of the progress made from the second semester 2020 until the first semester 2022.

The EURES network has been very active between July 2020 and June 2022. EURES network staff handled and processed 445 206 job applications and 718 168 job vacancies, and 18 935 events were organised across the network.

At the operational level, the main activities of the EURES countries during the current implementation period focused on the provision of general support services to employers and jobseekers. In addition, specific support services on apprenticeships and traineeships, post-recruitment assistance and mobility schemes were provided throughout the network. During the reporting period, the EURES European Coordination Office (ECO) function was transferred from the Commission to ELA after the creation of the latter. The Commission however remains responsible for the legislative and policy aspects of EURES, as well as the funding schemes under EURES.

At the regulatory level, several advancements in the implementation of the EURES Regulation were reported by the EURES countries, including:

• Most EURES countries have in place an admission system for potential new Members and Partners to enlarge their networks and several new Members and Partners have been admitted. The EURES regulation opens for private employment services and related services to be partners in the network. Progress in opening the network to other partners remains nevertheless limited.

• All EURES countries are connected to transfer job vacancies to the EURES portal, and a majority of the countries transfer CVs from the national level to the EURES portal. The transfer of traineeships and apprenticeships to the EURES portal is however limited to half of the EURES countries.

• Almost all EURES countries managed to adopt the European classification of skills, qualifications, and occupations (ESCO)1 or to map their national classifications to ESCO and some EURES countries began to transfer vacancies and job applications encoded with ESCO to the EURES portal.

This report analyses if and how the implementation of the EURES Regulation has been carried out. Some challenges and obstacles discussed in this report remain to be addressed by the National Coordination Offices (NCOs). In particular, the enlargement of the network with the admission of new Members and Partners slowed down significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also still room for improvement when it comes to the EURES brand awareness across Europe. Moreover, further (automated) transmission of job vacancies, as well as increased compliance of the CV’s and job applications forwarded to the EURES portal with the regulatory requirements set out by the EURES Regulation is necessary.

Moving forward, to achieve the objectives of the EURES regulation and to further ensure fair intra-EU labour mobility, EURES countries are recommended to enhance their efforts in admitting new Members and Partners. In view of the increase in the size of the EURES network, a reflection should be undertaken by EURES countries on their internal governance and coordination mechanisms to support the growing network. In a period of high labour and skills shortages, EURES is not yet achieving its potential in offering EU answers to the shortages present in many sectors and regions. In order to be able to ensure relevant, effective, and efficient cross-border job matching, EURES countries also need to continue their efforts when it comes to the automation of the transfer of job vacancies and CVs, while completing the ongoing mapping of national classification systems to ESCO should remain a priority for the network.

Key Acronyms

AcronymDescription
APIApplication Programming Interface
CBPCross-Border Partnerships
CVCurriculum Vitae
EaSIEmployment and Social Innovation Programme
ECEuropean Commission
ECGEURES Coordination Group
ECOEuropean Coordination Office
EEAEuropean Economic Area
ELAEuropean Labour Authority
EOJDEuropean Online Job Days
ESCOEuropean Skills, Competences and Occupations
ESF+European Social Fund Plus
EURES portalEuropean job mobility portal
EUEuropean Union
FTEFull Time Equivalent
JVJob Vacancy
MFFMultiannual Financial Framework
NCONational Coordination Office
PCProgramming Cycle
PESPublic Employment Services
PMSPerformance Measurement System
SDGSingle Digital Gateway
TMSTargeted Mobility Schemes
UKUnited Kingdom
YFEJYour First EURES Job
2FATwo-factor Authentication

1. Introduction

This Biennial Report provides an overview of the activities carried out by the EURES network between July 2020 and June 2022 as well as a description of the state of play of the application of the EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/589 (hereafter “the Regulation”) based on Member States’ notifications as of June 2022 as provided for in Article 33 of this Regulation.

During the reporting period, EURES operations were significantly affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and stakeholders had to cope with closed borders, lockdowns, and restricted travelling during extended periods, causing a lot of uncertainty and pressure on all of them. Secondly, on 4 March 2022, following a unanimous decision by Member States, the Temporary Protection Directive was activated for those people fleeing Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine. It gave protection to millions of displaced persons and provided them with access to the labour market, education and vocational training and healthcare. In some EURES countries’ Public Employment Services (PES) had to prioritise tasks related to the welcoming of persons fleeing from the Russian’s war of aggression against Ukraine on their territory. Thirdly, from an organisational standpoint, in line with Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1149, the responsibility for managing the EURES European Coordination Office (ECO) was transferred from the European Commission (EC) to the European Labour Authority (ELA) and the transfer was completed in May 2021. Finally, an extensive ex-post evaluation of EURES, as required by the Regulation, was finalised by the Commission in 20212 five years after the entry into force of the Regulation.


Launched in 1994 EURES is a cooperative network between the European Commission, the European Labour Authority (ELA), the national Public Employment Services (PES) and other Members and Partners, in all the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom3 (hereafter: ‘EURES countries’). EURES facilitates the free movement of workers by providing information and employment support services to workers and employers, and by enhancing cooperation and information exchange between its member organisations.


The EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/589 created a bigger and stronger network of European employment services, both public and private, in order to deliver a more efficient exchange of labour market information across borders in support of job placements across the EU/EEA area. The main changes introduced with the new EURES Regulation compared to the previous legal basis are linked to enhanced transparency through an increase in the number of jobs advertised on the EURES Portal, including apprenticeships and traineeships that are subject to an employment relationship; improved online matching of job vacancies and CVs; provision of a minimum agreed package of services for jobseekers and employers; and enlargement of the network. The Regulation is supported by six implementing decisions4 ensuring a uniform implementation across the EURES countries.

After almost 30 years of successful activities, EURES forms an essential part of the labour market support structure that the EU has developed over past decades to support fair mobility and improve its social and economic performance. EURES services are delivered through two complementary channels - the EURES human network, comprising EURES staff across the network, and the European job mobility portal (EURES Portal) with a number of online service tools available.

EURES services to jobseekers and employers

In accordance with Article 7 of EURES Regulation, the EURES network is composed of:

- The National Coordination Offices (NCOs) designated by the EURES countries and

generally linked to either their Public Employment Services (PES) or their Ministry of

Labour;

- the European Coordination Office (ECO), now hosted by the European Labour Authority,

provides horizontal support to NCOs;

- other EURES Members and Partners, which, according to Article 12 of the EURES

Regulation, are the organisations performing operational activities within the EURES

network, such as private employment services, social partners, and universities.


Together, the Commission, the European Labour Authority, and the NCOs constitute the European Coordination Group (ECG) of the EURES network, which has a coordinating role concerning the activities and functioning of the network.

2. Main activities of the EURES network: July 2020 – June 2022

This section describes the main activities of the EURES network throughout the reporting period.


1. Activities in EURES countries

Engaging with employers and jobseekers to provide them with support during and after the recruitment process is a key activity of EURES countries, broken down into general and specific support services.



1. General support services for workers and employers

1. Matching and placing activities

Between July 2020 and June 2022, EURES staff handled and processed 445 206 job applications and 718 168 job vacancies which is significantly lower than in the previous reporting period, mainly due to the dramatic slowdown of EURES activities during the pandemic and the allocation of EURES staff to other PES activities. 18 935 events were organised across the network. Of these, 73% were information events, 9% were recruitment events and the remaining 18% were a combination of recruitment and information activities.

By the end of the second semester of 2022, 93 186 jobseekers and 5 919 employers were registered on the EURES portal via its self-service function. Based on conservative estimates5, the EURES network facilitated 36 154 placements in the second semester of 2020, 24 463 placements in 2021 and 25 163 placements in the first semester of 20226, via both the EURES portal and the national EURES networks.




2. Information and guidance

Examples of information and guidance activities for jobseekers and employers provided by EURES staff include in-person and virtual one-to-one counselling, support with drafting job vacancies, organisation of workshops and online events. Overall, 5 516 313 individual contacts with workers and 372 616 with employers were reported between July 2020 and June 2022. Concerning the contacts with workers and employers, most contacts by EURES advisers were with workers from another EURES country (56%) and 27% of the contacts with employers were made by EURES advisers with employers from another EURES country. The main topics discussed with workers were placements (40% of the contacts), whereas general information on EURES (39% of contacts) was the most popular topic discussed with employers.



2. Specific support services

1. Support in cross-border regions

In 2020-2022, eight Cross-Border Partnerships (CBPs) benefited from support of the EU Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI)7. EURES cross-border partnerships are groupings of EURES Members or Partners and, where relevant, other stakeholders outside of the EURES network, which set-up regional structures for long-term cooperation in cross-border regions to offer services in the areas of placement, recruitment, and information for cross-border commuters.

A new call for proposals was launched in 2021, enabling seven CBPs to receive grants from the EaSI strand of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for the period 2022 to 2024. EURES CBPs reported overall 162 160 individual contacts with jobseekers, of which 39 022 contacts during the second semester of 2020, 97 971 contacts in 2021 and 25 167 contacts during the first semester of 2022. EURES CBPs reported overall 28 079 individual contacts with employers, of which 8 096 contacts during the second semester of 2020, 16 727 during 2021 and 3 256 during the first semester of 2022. The decrease in contacts in the first half of 2022 is due to two projects having ended in December 2021, and the newly awarded projects suffering from a slow take-up of activities until fall 2022. More than 11 694 matchings occurred thanks to the CBPs in the period covered by this report. The focus of CBPs’ activities was mostly on the provision of information to jobseekers and employers, and the topics most discussed with both groups were social security, placements, and general questions on EURES.




2. EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme (TMS)

In 2019, the Commission set up an integrated action: the “EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme (TMS)” to merge two ongoing intra-EU job mobility schemes, 'Your first EURES job' (YFEJ) and “Reactivate” and ensure their continuity and further development as part of the TMS. The general objective of TMS is to help EU/EEA jobseekers (in particular unemployed and vulnerable groups) to find a job, traineeship, apprenticeship in another EU Member State or EEA country, and employers (especially short and medium-sized enterprises) to fill-in their hard-to-fill vacancies by recruiting workers from another EU/EEA countries. Currently, the action is carried out by Sweden, Germany, and Italy as lead countries8. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of the different projects in 2020 and 2021 had slowed down9.




3. Post-recruitment assistance

Post-recruitment assistance aims to ensure the best possible integration of mobile workers into their new positions abroad. EURES countries focused on providing information to workers and employers prior to signing an employment contract. Overall, 18 EURES countries reported having organised post-recruitment activities in 2020 and 2021 and 24 EURES countries had planned to carry-out these activities in 2022, based on their work programmes. Most activities consisted of providing information and guidance on tax and social security issues as well as guidance on finding housing, jobs for spouses and education for their families. Some EURES countries go even further for incoming employees and aim to retain them by offering them free language courses as well as e-learning to find long-term jobs to promote their integration.

2.1.2.4 Support to youth – apprenticeships and traineeships

Activities linked to apprenticeships and traineeships that are subject to an employment relationship saw an increase compared to the previous reporting period. 19 EURES countries reported having organised activities related to the support of apprenticeships and traineeships in 2020, 16 EURES countries organised such activities in 2021, and 21 EURES countries planned to organize these activities in 2022, based on their work programmes. The reasons why some EURES countries do not provide this type of activities are because they do not fall within the scope of the country’s PES services and/or these practices are not common in their country.

In some countries, apprenticeship and traineeship offers are exchanged on the EURES portal, with 212 726 apprenticeship and 17 001 internships having been offered in total throughout the reference period.



3. Resources and governance

1. Human resources

EURES staff include both advisers working on EURES in national or regional PES and in other EURES Member or Partner organisations.10 Overall, the number of EURES staff members have increased by 13% while the number of full time equivalent (FTE) has decreased by 11% during the reporting period, which indicates that more advisers were allocated to EURES tasks but that overall less resources were dedicated to EURES in terms of FTEs. At the end of the second semester of 2020, the EURES network had 2 122 EURES staff members (1 311). At the end of 2021, the number of active EURES staff members rose to 2 421, but the number of FTE dropped to 1 100. During the first semester of 2022, the number of active EURES staff members slightly declined to 2 405 and the number of FTE increased to 1 163.11




2. Financial resources

The composition of the NCOs’ working budget and the size differ from one EURES country to another. According to the information provided in the NCOs’ work programmes12, 7 EURES countries mentioned that they received European funding., nine EURES countries mentioned having only received national funding and four mentioned that they only received “other” types of funding. The remaining EURES countries mentioned that they received a mix of funding from different sources.

In addition, financial resources are also available to projects carried out in EURES countries under the EaSI Programme13 (as of 2021, the EURES axis has become a strand under the ESF+), such as for the TMS and the CBPs.




3. IT infrastructure

The COVID-19 pandemic forced a wide-spread adoption of remote working which accelerated the digitalisation of EURES operations. In addition to providing IT equipment to allow EURES staff to perform their work remotely, EURES countries also ensured access to relevant software for online meetings and events. Jobseekers and employers also became more inclined to look for jobs/employees online. Therefore, many EURES countries have invested in updating their national platforms/websites and improving their digital services. This has also been accelerated by the quality standards imposed by the Single Digital Gateway (SDG) Regulation14. This will result in further interoperability of the EURES portal with and national EURES platforms.

In the area of interoperability, EURES countries continued working on improving their IT infrastructure for the transfer of job vacancies and CVs to the EURES portal. To match job vacancies with relevant CVs, the European classification of skills/competences and occupations (ESCO) mapping requirements will serve as an enabler. Further changes to IT infrastructure were necessary in some EURES countries to facilitate the broadening of the network and to align the IT infrastructures of new EURES Members and Partners (e.g., Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, and Portugal).

To increase the security of personal data on the EURES portal a mandatory 2-Factor Authentication system (2FA) was introduced in January 2022. Before the introduction, there were 151 731 registered accounts on the EURES portal, including jobseekers, company managers and contacts, and EURES Members and Partners. Two months after the implementation of the mandatory 2FA, the number of registered accounts dropped significantly. Several mitigating measures have been implemented, including an awareness raising and information campaign ran for several months by ECO. Eleven months after the introduction of the 2FA, the results are still unsatisfactory. Despite an increase of 282% in the number of registered accounts (reaching 19 958 in S2 2022), those are still significantly lower than the number of accounts prior to the introduction of the 2FA. Jobseekers, employers and EURES members (mainly PES) refrain from using EURES services requiring 2FA EU Login. As an additional remedial measure, a voluntary return to a 1-Factor Authentication system is currently under discussion.




4. Governance and stakeholder cooperation

Expanding the EURES network has been one of the key strategic objectives of the network, hence the continuous efforts to encourage other stakeholders to join the network during the reporting period. The COVID-19 pandemic however made it challenging to keep in contact and recruit additional members and partners. For several months it was impossible to hold physical meetings to introduce EURES operations to new stakeholders and priorities shifted in PES and for other employment stakeholders to focus on other tasks that were put on top of the agenda to tackle the major labour market transitions forced by the pandemic. As soon as measures lifted mid-2021, it became easier to regain contact with potential stakeholders.




5. Communication in EURES countries

In the reference period, 12 887 events were held, reaching 537 696 people. The most common type of event held was informational events, followed by mixed events (information and recruitment) and purely recruitment events. The number of people reached by the different types of events followed the same pattern. The more events were organised, the higher the reach, except for the second semester of 2021.15

Some events at national level were organised in cooperation with other EU networks present on the ground. 16 The cooperation with other networks was a fruitful way to create synergies, an example of this collaboration is the information sessions targeted at students organised together with EUROPE DIRECT centres and EURODESK.

During the 2020-2022 period, communication was carried out mainly via social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter) and the EURES reach on social media has grown on all social media channels in the reporting period17. The communication activities carried out included general information campaigns about EURES services and communication efforts targeting specific groups or sectors (for example, Norway organised information events for young jobseekers and Romania hosted information events for seasonal workers). When it comes to general information campaigns, ELA coordinated in 2021 the “#Rights4AllSeasons” campaign, in partnership with the European Commission, the EURES network, the European Platform tackling undeclared work, EU countries and social partners, focusing on the enforcement and information activities in the agricultural sector. In the context of the European Year of Youth 2022, ECO also launched a campaign dedicated to Youth to raise awareness about the EURES services available to them if they are looking for a job in another EU country.




6. Monitoring and evaluation of activities

The Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/17018 introduced specifications for a uniform approach to data collection and analysis to monitoring the performance of the EURES network. The EURES Performance Measurement System (PMS) introduced in 2018 established a unified programming and monitoring system at national level and facilitated the data collection within all the EURES Members and Partners. Since then, NCOs have provided data on five “core indicators” and 11 “network indicators” every six months19. As a result, comparison and benchmarking of performance have been possible across the network since then.

In addition to the PMS, the Programming Cycle (‘PC’, i.e., Work Programmes of all the EURES countries) is the main monitoring tool for yearly activities of the EURES countries. The Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/125620 introduced the arrangements and templates to be used in the PC. Each NCO reports on the outputs and outcomes of their national EURES network in a yearly National Activity Report against the objectives set out in their National Work Programme.


2. Horizontal support activities from the EURES European Coordination Office

1. Coordination and governance support

ECO’s mandate is to supervise and facilitate the different stages of the PC and coordinate NCOs’ planning. As required by Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1149, the operation of ECO was transferred from the Commission to ELA in May 2021.

The EURES Coordination Group21 (ECG) is the governance structure of main forum supporting the EURES network in carrying out its activities. It meets at regular intervals as well as on an ad hoc basis to steer the network activities, discuss the state of play, present recent developments and share information and good practices. These meetings bring together all NCOs, the Commission and ECO. Seven ECG meetings were held during the reference period.



2. Operation and development of the EURES portal and related IT support

With the transfer of competences from the Commission to ELA, the latter became the system owner of the EURES portal. The technical development and the maintenance of the portal are still handled by the Commission, in line with the EURES Regulation.

The introduction of an automated matching function on the EURES portal (as required by the EURES Regulation22) has as precondition the adoption of ESCO by EURES countries, or alternatively the mapping between national classification systems and ESCO. While a large majority of countries have finalised this mapping, some are still in the process of mapping or adopting. Therefore, support is being provided by the Commission to ensure the quality of the mapping.

Moreover, ECO continued to launch customer satisfaction surveys23 as part of its continuous monitoring of users’ experience on the portal. A slight decrease in the satisfaction of the users was noticed, as 80% of the users that replied to the survey were satisfied or very satisfied with the EURES portal online services, compared with 95% during the previous reporting period.

Improving the EURES portal’s user-friendliness was a key recommendation made in the ex-post evaluation. During the reporting period, ECO continued to implement changes on the EURES portal to go in this direction (e.g., improvements to the filters and to the menu), but stakeholders recognise that this needs to be further pursued.

Since 2011, ECO has run the European (Online) Job Days (E(O)JD24) platform and supported the organisation of job days and recruitment events. During the reporting period, these events were held mostly online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though some were held in a hybrid format. ELA took over the organisation of the E(O)JDs as of April 2021 and allocated €700 K to organise events between April and December 2021. Between January 2022 and June 2022, ELA budgeted €400 K to finance the E(O)JDs. A total of 75 events were organised, compared to 65 in the previous reporting period.



3. Training and professional development

A new EURES e-learning platform for the EURES staff was launched in January 2022 and new training courses were introduced to meet new needs for training.

The basic training continued to be provided at national level, allowing to approach the national perspective and in particular how EURES is structured in each organisation/country and provides basic knowledge about EURES and its available tools. This is followed by a consolidation phase, bringing the European perspective to the trainings, and consisting of three sequential learning components: self-assessment tool and motivation; online/onsite learning and networking workshop; virtual modules. Finally, the EURES Academy broadens the specific knowledge of EURES staff through both virtual and classroom training as well as networking activities including events and workshops. The trainings cover a broad range of topics, such as training on ESCO mapping, the services to jobseekers and to employers, communication tools and the EURES portal. In total, 83 training sessions attended by 2 674 EURES staff were organised from July 2020 to June 2022.

A helpdesk function continued to be provided for all users of the EURES portal and its services (i.e., jobseekers, employers, staff of the EURES Members and Partners, NCOs, and guest visitors). This service includes replying to all inquiries relating to the services provided on the EURES portal, including the extranet section25 and job mobility in general. The EURES helpdesk processed 23678 user enquiries during the reporting period, which is significantly lower than in the previous reporting period in which 61 779 user enquiries were processed.



4. Networking, exchange of good practice and mutual learning

Networking, mutual learning and the exchange of good practices continued to be facilitated within the EURES network. During the reporting period a new version of the EURES extranet26 was developed. This is available to all staff members involved with the EURES network. The new version of the extranet contains a knowledge base, document repository and several other practical tools and utilities but has been made more secure and user-friendly.

Apart from regular ECG meetings, mutual learning events and working groups27 were organised with representatives from all EURES countries. Five mutual learning events were organised during the reporting period: one about the E(O)JD28, two on the PC29 and two on the PMS30.



5. Information and communication activities

The EURES network set out a new communication strategy during the reporting period, for which the implementation by the NCOs is still ongoing. With this new strategy, the aim is to support EURES’ services through two main communication objectives: (1) improve and increase awareness and the brand perception of EURES, including the development of a new brand booklet giving the EURES brand a holistic look and feel and (2) encourage and facilitate more active collaboration between EURES Members and Partners, ECO, NCOs, the Commission, and stakeholders outside the network. A guidance document was developed for NCOs to support the implementation of the full strategy at national level, and direct support from ECO’s communication team to the NCOs was also offered.

ECO carries-out extensive communication activities, including the management of the EURES social media accounts, with 316 926 followers on Facebook, 42 636 on Twitter, 6 390 on Instagram (since its launch in 2021), 73 008 on LinkedIn as well as 9 000 subscribers and 25 videos published on YouTube. In addition, over 90 news articles were shared on the EURES portal during the reporting period and both internal and external newsletters are being distributed monthly.

The EURES NCOs and the admitted Members and Partners were added to the ‘European Union around me’31 map hosted by the Commission. This map is a tool to locate the EU centres active in each region and find out about the services they provide. The next step is to add the local service points, the EURES Advisers.



6. Analysis of geographical and occupational mobility

As per Article 29 of the EURES Regulation, the Commission as part of its mandate to analyse geographical and occupational mobility trends, has published two intra-EU labour mobility reports (i.e., 202032 and 202133) containing key information on labour mobility flows and patterns in the EU and EFTA countries, with a particular focus on the labour market situation of mobile workers and the gender dimension. In addition, using information provided by the NCOs and an analysis of the European Labour Force Survey, two study reports on surplus and shortage occupations in 2020 and 2021 were published.34



7. Development of an appropriate cooperation and clearance structure for apprenticeships and traineeships

During the reporting period, no additional efforts were mobilised by ECO to further develop the cooperation and clearance structure for apprenticeships and traineeships, even though it was a recommendation made in the previous report. This is mainly a consequence of prioritising business continuity during the transfer of ECO to ELA. In addition, there are legal limitations in many countries to support further development of the clearance structure for apprenticeships and traineeships.



8. Financial resources

Since the transfer of the ECO function from the Commission to ELA, the financing of EURES operations has come from different funding streams and all horizontal support is now part of ELA’s budget. As the transfer of competences to ELA took place gradually, not all activities were already financed under ELA’s budget in the early months of 2021. This allowed ELA to allocate a relatively lower budget to the EURES activities compared to 2022. In 2021, this budget line made € 7.5 million available, which increased to € 9.9 million in 202235.

3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION IN THE MEMBER STATES

This chapter describes how the main changes introduced with the new EURES Regulation compared to the previous legal basis have been implemented. The changes related among other to transmitting all publically available JVs, all CVs for which the jobseekers have given its consent, the encoding of JVs and CVs with the European classification, the broadening of the EURES network to new members and partners, and the transmission of apprenticeships and traineeships that are subject to an employment relationship.

The analysis in this section is based on data received directly from the NCOs to a survey and checklist disseminated for the purpose of this Biennial Report and it is complemented by other sources of information made available by ECO. Each sub-section below tackles different aspects of the implementation of the EURES Regulation and starts with a summary table36 showing the results from the disseminated implementation checklist (see the legend below). The Commission will further analyse the Members States’s compliance with all requirements of the Regulation and take appropriate measures, if deemed required.

S ummary tables’ legend:

*Data are reported as not available

by the NCO or no data were reported.



1. Composition of the network and organisational matters




1. Implementation

All EURES countries designated NCOs and representatives to the ECG, and appointed PES as EURES Members. Only some sub-actions are not considered fully completed for Croatia and Switzerland when it comes to Article 10.37



2. Challenges

No specific challenge was reported by the EURES countries in relation to this set of requirements.


2. Governance and interaction with organisations outside the EURES network




1. Implementation

Between 2020 and 2022, almost all EURES countries took several steps to enhance collaboration and dialogue with numerous stakeholder organisations, competent authorities and EU information and advisory services. However, the COVID-19 pandemic made it challenging to keep up the regular contacts with stakeholders.

The pandemic has shown the importance of well-functioning governance structures and networks. During the crisis, EURES advisers showed resilience and agility as they quickly adapted to the online way of working and the shift of priorities in their tasks, including providing timely specific information about the COVID-19 measures to employers and jobseekers, based on constantly changing information.

EURES also proved particularly useful in cross-border regions where employers and jobseekers had urgent needs to stay informed about COVID-19 measures. For instance, some EURES advisers joined regional working groups on rapidly changing working conditions. NCOs reported that, although this period was challenging, the links with other parties (e.g., administration, chambers of commerce, workers, and companies) were strengthened. 



2. Challenges

As earlier, the major challenges EURES countries continue to deal with are obstacles linked to the communication with external stakeholders, which were amplified by the pandemic during the reporting period (see section above).


3. Broadening the network




1. Implementation

By the end of the reporting period, 27 EURES countries had notified the Commission of having established an admission system for Members and Partners, and seven are in the process of implementing it. Although most EURES countries continued to work on enlarging the EURES network, some of them could not make this a priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of this reporting period, the EURES network had admitted 26 private Members and 62 Partners out of the total 238 public and private organisations.38 Even though most countries had already set up systems to monitor the compliance of EURES Members and Partners, there was still work to be done in some countries.39



2. Challenges

The increase in the number of new Members and Partners was slower than expected. This trend was already noted in the previous Biennial Report and was even more important in the current reporting period because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the NCOs to prioritise other tasks. Some countries added additional requirements for being accepted as a EURES Member or Partner, but these requirements might prevent the growth of the EURES network.


4. Job vacancies and CV exchanges




1. Implementation

The provisions of Article 17(1) of the EURES Regulation set out that countries should transfer to the EURES portal all publicly available job vacancies and all job applications/CVs where the worker has consented to making the information available also to the EURES. By the end of the reporting period, all EURES countries had set up systems at national level to transfer Job Vacancies (JVs) to the EURES portal. When it comes to CVs, 28 EURES countries were setting up/had set up systems at national level to allow their transfer to the EURES portal40 via one single coordinated channel.

The adoption or mapping of ESCO to established national classification systems and the transmission of CVs and JVs in the agreed format was ongoing41. Since the last report, most EURES countries had made efforts to map or adopt ESCO. As of June 2022, 18 EURES countries had already mapped ESCO to their national classification systems. Four more EURES countries had already adopted ESCO. Three EURES countries had mapped ESCO to their national skills frameworks. Another four EURES countries had already adopted it.



2. Challenges

In relation to the ESCO adoption/mapping exercises, not all EURES countries were able to fulfil their legal obligation yet. Difficulties persist with regards to the compliance with the technical standards provided by the Implementing Decision 2018/1021 for the formatting of the mapping tables, which are essential to enable interoperability within the EURES common IT platform. The quality of the established mappings (between national classification systems and ESCO) varies across countries and will be subject to review. The correct usage of the prescribed mapping relations is an element of concern in terms of homogeneity and consistency as ensuring high quality mappings is key for the successful implementation of automated matching on the portal.

Concerning the transfer of CVs to the EURES portal, the NCOs that did not implement this transfer yet and highlighted that this is often due to IT issues at national level42. Considering the number of CVs and JVs transferred to the EURES portal, it appears that the volume especially for CVs transferred by some of the NCOs remains low.


5. Support services




1. Implementation

All EURES countries reported activities and measures taken to ensure continuity in the provision of support services for jobseekers and employers through their national PES. In the area of assistance and information for workers and employers on how to register and use the EURES portal, all EURES countries ensured that organisations which were newly admitted into the network were complying with the requirements whenever they joined the network. This was also the case for the provision of basic information concerning the EURES portal, including the CV database, and the EURES network, including the contact details of relevant EURES Members and Partners at national level.

Support services in cross-border regions are also provided through EURES Members and Partners. Over the current reporting period, the number of EURES countries providing information to cross-border workers increased from 14 to 20, this being in alignment with one of the recommendations made in the EURES Ex-post Evaluation43.

In accordance with the EURES regulation44, 24 EURES countries identified active labour market measures to increase the employment opportunities for jobseekers, to improve matching between vacancies and jobseekers and to provide job-search assistance to the jobseekers based on these measures. Some also ensured that those measures are no longer limited to job-search assistance at national level but can also be used to find employment on the territory of another Member State. Two other EURES countries were still in the process of enabling this assistance.




2. Challenges

Many users experienced difficulties in logging in to the portal (e.g., QR-code Login methods that are not supported in every country) and some occasional downtimes of the portal were also highlighted as portal access improvement opportunities45.


6. Information exchange, programming, and performance measurement




1. Implementation

In the survey, all but one EURES country mentioned that they are collecting information on their labour market situation (including shortages and surpluses). The degree to which analysis is performed varies from country to country. The main bodies performing this labour market analysis are, for example, national statistics bureaus or the statistical departments of the PES. The collection of the necessary data is often carried out using the templates and formats provided by ECO. The information gathered and analysed is then shared in different ways, including by uploading it on the EURES portal together with the activity reporting.

In relation to the information on national activities, NCOs collect and share this using the PMS as well as the PC Work Programmes and Activity Reports. This includes, for example, the structure of their governance model, the qualifications and number of EURES staff, as well as their fields of activity. The information of new Members and Partners is also shared. In addition, several EURES countries mentioned that they perform customer satisfaction surveys in order to keep improving their services and events.



2. Challenges

Some EURES countries reported issues with data collection and reporting for both the PMS and the PC, highlighting the workload linked to these reports. In the case of some of the reporting mechanisms, NCOs provided approximate data (e.g., number of contacts, number of actual placements, response time) due to data limited availability. However, actions were taken to improve internal IT systems.


7. Recommendations addressed from the previous reporting period

The Biennial Report for the period 2018-2020 identified some actions46 as priorities for the current reporting period. This section provides details on the extent to which these were addressed during the period 2020-2022 and briefly outlines the progress made.

No 1 Re-start of EURES

In order to kick-start EURES activities after lockdown restrictions were lifted, the NCOs helped to raise awareness of EURES and its activities through the ‘#EURESmovingforward’ campaign developed by ECO. This campaign was launched in December 2020 and aimed to raise awareness around the existence of EURES and its activities.

No 2 Network enlargement

As mentioned under Section 3.3.1, all except two EURES countries have done the necessary work to establish an admission system for new Members and Partners. Most EURES countries are actively looking to enlarge their national EURES network.

The new communication strategy contributed to the efforts to accelerate the expansion of the EURES network. In addition, ECO complemented the guide to expand the network in view of assisting NCOs in their efforts.

No 3 Interoperability and IT developments

At the end of the reporting period in June 2022, 22 EURES countries were connected to the single coordinated channel and an additional 7 EURES countries were in the process of establishing the necessary connection. (11 in 2020). In other words, 29 EURES countries had either completed the process or were working on it47, compared to 23 in the previous reporting period48.

Efforts have been made by most EURES countries to map and to adopt ESCO. The last Biennial Report mentioned that 16 EURES countries (excluding the UK) were compliant with the implementing act under Article 17 (8) of the EURES Regulation and that another five EURES countries were partially compliant. Now, the number of compliant EURES countries has risen to 24. As regards the exchange of CVs and JVs via the single coordinated channel, the numbers of CVs exchanged by some EURES countries remain low.

No 4 Development of EURES services

As Section 3.6.1 mentions, each of the EURES countries does collect information on their labour market situation. Although the level of details and the specific data shared differ for each country, more and more countries are sharing such data with increasing depth, which helped to leverage EURES activities and objectives.

4. Implementation of the Regulation by the European Commission and the European Coordination office

This section provides an overview of the state of play of the application at EU level of the EURES Regulation as required by the second subparagraph of Article 33 of the EURES Regulation, applying the same colour coding as used in Section 3.


1. Regulation requirements

Areas of ECO activitiesStatus
Provision of horizontal support activities for the benefit of the EURES networkV
Preparation for the application of the EURES RegulationV
Facilitation of networking, mutual learning, and exchange of best practices (Article 8)V
Information and communication activities regarding the EURES network (Article 1 – 8)V
Provision of training programme for the NCOs and EURES Members/Partners (Article 8)V
Support to broadening the network and the admission systems (Article 3 – 7 – 11)V
Programming cycle and exchange of labour market information including joint analysisV
Development and operation of the EURES portal (including helpdesk function) and interoperability platformV
Measuring performance and monitoring progressV
Management and dialogue at EU-levelV
2. Implementation

On top of the transfer of ECO from the Commission to ELA during the reporting period, ECO continued to provide horizontal support to the EURES network, in particular:

- Providing the necessary implementation guidance to EURES organisations at national level, e.g., training, mutual learning events, coordination meetings and working groups.

- Supporting networking and learning, including organising mutual learning events on different topics and supporting networking and bilateral discussions during the annual workshops on the PC. In addition, the EURES extranet was fully renewed in order to improve the availability of the dedicated resources and to facilitate more networking between the NCOs.

- Delivering training activities to the EURES Members and Partners. Input from the NCOs was leveraged to create tailored training on subjects on which they wanted to gain additional insights.

- Raising awareness about EURES through information and communication activities and by providing communication support to EURES countries. ECO led the communication efforts and established a new communication strategy in 2021 to improve EURES’ branding and visibility both internally and externally (as recommended by the ex-post evaluation).

- Supporting the broadening of the network through mutual learning events, training sessions, discussions in the ECG meetings, as well as setting up a working group on the topic with a mandate to produce a set of guidelines and a toolkit on the admission system, admission process, on-boarding of new Members and Partners and on working as an enlarged EURES network.

- Improving the EURES portal through updates aiming to increase its user-friendliness, security, and adaptability (addressing a recommendation made in the ex-post evaluation). However, the implementation of the automated matching and setting up the necessary technical infrastructure is lagging behind. This needs to be set up to allow EURES Members and Partners to directly access EURES JVs and CVs through their own platforms.49

- Providing guidance to the EURES countries which transferred apprenticeships and traineeships offers to the EURES portal.


3. Challenges

The gradual process of transferring the competences of ECO from the Commission to ELA started in parallel with the first lockdown period in March 2020. The lockdown prevented the teams to do the transfer as planned. Given that none of the Commission staff members from ECO were transferring to ELA, it was key to organise a thorough knowledge transfer. The two teams had planned that ELA staff members would “shadow” the team working on ECO at the Commission in-person for several months to ensure business continuity and to get acquainted with the tasks, but this was not possible due to the COVID-19 restrictions. The teams had to organise the onboarding of ELA online and the additional complexity caused by the pandemic situation and the impossibility to gather physically required a large amount of time and resources for both the Commission and ELA.50 At the end of the reporting period, ELA declared to be comfortable in their ECO functions and that the transfer could be considered as successfully completed.


4. Recommendations addressed from the previous reporting period

The second EURES Biennial Report 2018-2020 highlighted some actions as priorities for ECO. The report makes a distinction between actions to be taken by the Commission and ELA, depending on where ECO was organisationally placed. The following recommendations were attributed to ECO within the Commission (before the transition) as part of the previous reporting period:

No 1 Transfer of ECO to ELA

As mentioned under the implementation section, the transfer of ECO to ELA was completed successfully during the reporting period, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic.

No 2 Support re-start of EURES activities

In order to kick-start EURES activities after lockdown restrictions were lifted, ECO developed the ‘Moving Forward’ campaign. This campaign took place between December 2020 and February 2021 to raise awareness on the existence of EURES and its activities. The communication campaign was a success. The #EURESmovingforward reached 12 million people and over 16 000 users have participated in the EURES quiz “Which European country is right for you?”. Moreover, five new videos on EURES were produced and the new Instagram channel of EURES was launched51.
No 3 Strengthen support to workers most affected by the pandemic

In addition to the general ‘Moving Forward’ campaign, specific groups of workers were targeted by more specific communication efforts. For instance, to help protecting seasonal workers and ease the obstacles they faced, the EURES network participated in the ‘Rights4AllSeasons’ campaign. It was launched in partnership with the Commission, the European Platform tackling undeclared work, EU countries and social partners. With this campaign, the EURES network helped raise awareness on the existing rights, obligations and counselling services that exist to ensure fair conditions for seasonal recruitment.

No 4 Promote and support the use of the ESF+ for funding of EURES activities

For the ESF+ 2021-2027 programming period, the Commission and ECO have extensively promoted the use of ESF+ for the fundings of EURES activities.

No 5 Continue developing the reporting tools

Both the Commission and ECO recognise that the reporting requirements for the NCOs and the Members and Partners represent a burden for them. However, reporting on EURES activities is a key component of the EURES Regulation and was deemed necessary by the legislator. To reduce some of this burden, a new IT Tool was rolled out which enable NCOs to fill out their data in a more user-friendly way. Further reflections are also ongoing on the topic (e.g. on further harmonising/easing the PMS and PC activities).

No 6 Develop the widespread exchange of apprenticeships and traineeships

During the reporting period, no specific action was undertaken on this subject as the transfer of ECO was prioritised and all ECO’s means were required to ensure business continuity. Therefore, no additional investment could be made in this topic during the period.

No 7 Further improve the EURES portal

The Commission and ELA (once ECO was transferred) continued to implement changes to the EURES portal to improve its user-friendliness. An IT Steering Committee aiming to facilitate the coordination, planning and decision-making process on matters related to the portal was also created to agree on future developments of the EURES portal.


 

The following recommendations were attributed to European Coordination Office managed by European Labour Authority:

No 1 Complete transfer of ECO

As mentioned under the implementation section, the transfer of ECO to ELA was successfully completed during the reporting period.

No 2 Support fair mobility

The core objective of EURES activities is to increase fair mobility between EURES countries. Transferring the operational support function of ECO from the Commission to ELA was one step to further strengthen the support offered to the EURES countries, as this makes it easier for ECO to work closer with other important support services to the countries and citizens ELA is responsible for. During the reporting period, different projects and events organised by NCOs to support fair mobility received support by ECO when needed. ECO also contributed and led key communication efforts such as the “Moving Forward” campaign and more specific campaigns (e.g., Rights for all seasons).

No 3 Further strengthen EURES communication

During this reporting period, strengthening EURES communication was one of the key development points. A new communication strategy was developed, and additional funding was made available by ELA in order to increase both internal and external awareness of the EURES brand and activities.

No 4 Allocate sufficient resources for EURES’ operations

As the transfer of competences to ELA took place gradually, not all activities were already financed under ELA’s budget in the early months of 2021. This caused ELA to allocate a relatively lower budget to the EURES activities in 2021 compared to 2022. In 2021, ELA invested € 7.5 million in their EURES activities, which rose to € 9.9 million in 2022.


5. Conclusions and Recommendations

1. Conclusions

In order to achieve the reform of EURES and to ensure fair intra-EU labour mobility, the 2016 EURES Regulation set several requirements for the EURES network. Next to these requirements, Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 defined that ECO would need to be transferred from the Commission to ELA before August 2021. All these objectives were dealt with during the COVID-19 pandemic, a period of great uncertainty given the lockdown restrictions which affected among others collaboration and cross-border travel.

The transfer of ECO from the Commission to ELA was finalised in May 2021 after an intensive collaboration between both instances. Since the completion, ECO in ELA has become the system owner of the EURES portal, while the Commission remains responsible (from an operational perspective) for the technical operation and development of the EURES portal and related IT services.

Some challenges remain to be addressed, notably those related to the expansion of the network and welcoming more Members and Partners.

5.2 Recommendations to EURES countries

Building on the key findings on the implementation status and remaining challenges identified in this report, the main priorities for the next reporting period are summarised as follows:

No 1 Continue to invest in network enlargement
Network enlargement has been a priority for the EURES network since the latest regulation came into force. As the growth has been slower than expected (potential Members and Partners are not sufficiently attracted) the NCOs should set out clear strategies on what the new composition of the EURES network means for their service model and operations, whom to approach and how to ensure that the enlargement of the network results in better services for EURES beneficiaries.

No 2 Clearly define communication channels

Communication is key for strengthening awareness of the EURES brand. To maximise the impact of EURES communication, it is important to know which channels to focus on when spreading information. The new communication strategy already tackles this. In order to obtain more detailed feedback on the effectiveness of the different communication channels, the national surveys being sent out to jobseekers and employers could include a question on how they heard about the EURES work and services. This would not only help to refine future communication channels, but also help to focus the communication based on the targeted audience.

No 3 Finalise the implementation of ESCO mapping throughout the whole network

The adoption/mapping of ESCO has made progress over the reporting period. There are, however, some EURES countries where the required mapping has not yet been completed. Given the importance of this mapping for the automated matching, implementation of this should be a priority in the upcoming months.

No 4 Consolidate the use of the EU Login system

The EU Login system enhances the security on the EURES portal. Several reminders, accompanied by a guideline-video tutorial, were disseminated by ECO in January 2022 to encourage all users to upgrade their accounts following the technical implementation of the EU Login on the EURES portal. Therefore, all NCOs should continue to encourage their Members and Partners to make use of it, and make the tutorial available on the national websites.

No 5 Ensure the transfer of CVs to the EURES portal

The EURES Regulation requires all EURES Members and Partners to transfer their publicly available job vacancies and CVs consented by workers to the EURES portal through the single coordinated channel. Whereas job vacancies are being uploaded by the NCOs to the portal, there appears to be less progress in the transferring of CVs. Increasing the transfer of CVs from the countries to the EURES portal should be a priority.

No 6 Further develop the widespread exchange of apprenticeships and traineeships

Activities linked to apprenticeships and traineeships that are subject to an employment relationship should be further increased both by activities of EURES advisers and through submission of offers to the EURES Portal.




2. Recommendations to European Coordination Office, managed by the European Labour Authority

In the light of the challenges mentioned above, ELA should provide adequate financial and human resources to the European Coordination Office for EURES (ECO) in ELA, support the ECO activities and seek synergies with the other tasks of ELA, while fully respecting the independent EURES governance as established by the 2016 EURES Regulation. ECO in ELA should prioritise the following aspects:

No 1 Ensuring compliance with the EURES regulation

Being in full compliance with EURES’s legal basis should remain a first priority for ECO and this should be reflected in all their activities and tasks. Further developments of the portal shall remain in compliance with the EURES Regulation and APIs shall be developed to enable Members and Partners to have a better access to CVs and job vacancies, the support of NCOs in their ESCO mapping, the development of a skills-based matching tool and examples of actions for ECO to prioritise in this regard.

No 2 Work on EURES-Europass synergies

With the objective of fostering synergies between EURES and Europass for better services to EURES beneficiaries, closer links and connections should be tied between the two. Users of the EURES portal could benefit from having access to the Europass tool as part of their EURES users’ journey; Europass users should benefit from the job opportunities on the portal. Where possible, work on additional synergies with the Your Europe Portal.

No 3 Continue supporting the NCOs in their network enlargement efforts

Network enlargement has been a top priority for the EURES network since its establishment. The challenges identified in the previous Biennial Report and the ex-post evaluation remain, as NCOs still find it difficult to clearly present the added value and major selling points of EURES membership with a view to possible admission to the EURES network. ECO should therefore continue supporting the NCOs in setting out a strategy on how to approach possible new Members and Partners and keep developing supporting material or mutual learning events on the topic of admission.

No 4 Reorient the report on labour shortages and surpluses and ensure that EURES systematically contributes to tackling labour shortages

Labour shortages are increasingly at the top of the agenda of national and European employment policies with several organisations reporting regularly on latest trends. ECO should look for synergies with reports and initiatives produced or promoted by the Commission and other EU agencies to avoid overlaps and contribute with its expertise. The programming of activities, for example in the area of the E(O)JDs, could be systematically targeted at tackling labour shortages.

No 5 Ensure the granularity of the ESCO mapping

During the last four years, significant steps have been taken to ensure the implementation of the transnational ESCO classification. EURES countries do, however, still have difficulties in mapping to the right level of detail. As this mapping is being used to automate the matching of CVs and job offers on the EURES portal, it is imperative that the mapping contains sufficient differentiation in skills and occupations. ECO together with the Commission therefore needs to ensure that mappings adhere to identified quality criteria and that the required level of detail is captured in the data supplied to EURES.

No 6 Invest in EURES staff training

ECO should grow its offer of trainings for EURES staff to guarantee their continuous competence and further learning. The training programme should be continuously monitored for quality purposes, evaluated, and developed as the needs of the network and the labour market also continuously change.

No 7 Continue to support organisation of the European (Online) Job Days

The E(O)JDs were, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, already conducted online or in a hybrid mode. Considering the success that these Job Days continued to have for the jobseekers and employers, ECO is invited to continue to support these events and to further build on their success. ECO should target the E(O)JDs on sectors with labour shortages.

No 8 Further optimise the reporting procedures

Despite legal limitations, one of the developments that NCOs request most is the integration of the PC and the PMS due to the administrative burden they represent for NCOs. Through the development of new IT tools, ECO should continue to support NCOs when possible as well as developing new ways to ease the reporting.

No 9 Increase the visibility of the EURES Portal and brand, further explore new communication channels, develop targeted KPIs and increase cooperation with the Commission

The communication strategy that ECO developed is helpful in increasing visibility of the network and its activities. However, a longer-term communication strategy, by means of a multiannual communication campaign, may be sought in order to fine-tune coherence and efficiency of promotion efforts, but also to reinforce the image of the network over time and increase the visibility of the EURES Portal. The campaign could also further explore the benefits of using new social media, especially to target youth. ECO should encourage identifying good KPIs and measure reach and engagement of communication/campaigns in line with the official Commission Communication Network indicators. As the Commission is planning a larger multiannual communication campaign, EURES and key messages about its services could be included in view to increase EURES visibility at European level. For instance, this campaign plans to include information on synergies between EURES and Europass. In particular, ECO should finalise its contribution to the Commission’s network map of EU outreach networks around Europe and EEA52.

No 10 Consolidate the use of the EU Login system

The decrease in the number of registered jobseekers and employers requires additional measures to facilitate easier access to the EURES portal.



3. Key takeaways for the Commission

To address some of the implementation challenges described above, the Commission could follow the recommendations below:

No 1 EURES-Europass synergies

The Commission should continue to work closely with ECO in order to simplify the user journey for EURES portal users and potentially further benefit from the synergies identified with Europass (see recommendation No 2 to ECO above).

No 2 Multiannual communication campaign

As stated in recommendation No 10 to ECO above, a long-term communication strategy, by means of a multiannual communication campaign, may be sought in order to fine-tune coherence and efficiency of EURES promotion efforts, but also to reinforce the awareness of the network. In particular, EURES should be included in the comprehensive multiannual communication campaign organised by the Commission in order to increase EURES Network and the EURES Portal visibility and promote its services at the European level as proposed by the Commission in its follow-up report to the Conference of Europe.53

No 3 Increase funding and visibility for TMS and CBPs

TMS and CBPs have proven particularly important as they foster inclusion and free movement of workers across EURES countries, on top of addressing specific labour market needs. Therefore, ensuring future funding for these mobility schemes would allow to continue reaping those benefits and potentially to implement more innovative, ambitious, and far-reaching projects that could further help workers and employers, in particular by addressing labour shortages and obstacles to cross-border work.


1 ESCO is the multilingual classification of European Skills, Competences, and Occupations. More information can be found at https://esco.ec.europa.eu/en.

2 For more information about the EURES Ex-post evaluation: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8370&furtherPubs=yes.

3 The UK membership in EURES ceased on 31 December 2020

4 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1255 of 11 July 2017 on a template for the description of national systems

and procedures to admit organisations to become EURES Members and Partners.

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1256 of 11 July 2017 on templates and procedures for the exchange of

information on the EURES network national work programmes at Union level.

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/1257 of 11 July 2017 on the technical standards and formats required for

a uniform system to enable matching of job vacancies with job applications and CVs on the EURES Portal.

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/170 of 2 February 2018 on uniform detailed specifications for data

collection and analysis to monitor and evaluate the functioning of the EURES network.

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1020 of 18 July 2018 on the adoption and updating of the list of skills,

competences and occupations of the European classification for the purpose of automated matching through the

EURES common IT platform

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1021 of 18 July 2018 on the adoption of technical standards and formats

necessary for the operation of the automated matching through the common IT platform using the European

classification and the interoperability between national systems and the European classification.

5 Combining the results from the EURES Performance Measurement System and estimations based on the customer satisfaction survey.

6 It is to be noted that workers/companies do not always report on these data.

7 The financial support to cross-border partnerships through calls for proposals such as VP/2019/006. EaSI – EURES “Cross-border partnerships and support to cooperation on intra-EU mobility for EEA countries and social partners is implemented by the Commission”.

8 During the second semester 2020, the projects were led by Sweden and Germany and during the first semester of 2021, there was a second German-led project and a new Italy-led project.

9 From January 2020 to June 2020, the TMS projects enabled 3 607 placements, supporting 239 small-and-medium-sized enterprises in 30 countries.

10 Data reported by EURES countries as part of the PMS.

11 It is to be noted that not all countries provide FTE data.

12 Each year, NCOs are requested to provide a Work Programme (WP) describing the activities that they plan to undertake during the following year.

13 VP/2019/010: EaSI-EURES - Support to national classification inventories & innovative national online services for mobile workers.

14 Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving services.

15 2248 events were organised in S2 2020 and reached 131 500 people. 2 945 events were organised in S1 2021 and reached 139 800 people. 3 503 events were organised in S2 2021 but only reached 123 929 people. 4 191 events were organised in S1 2022 and reached 142 467 people.

16 https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en

17 The number of Facebook fans increased from 497 461 in S2 2020 to 651 413 in S2 2022. The number of Twitter fans increased from 44 659 in S2 2020 to 49 665 in S1 2022. The number of LinkedIn fans increased from 156 375 in S2 2020 to 260 872 in S1 2022. The number of fans on other social media increased from 19 195 in S2 2020 to 25638 in S1 2022.

18 Commission Implementing Decision on uniform detailed specifications for data collection and analysis to monitor and evaluate the functioning of the EURES network.

19 As stated in Article 32 of the EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/ and detailed in Article 1 and annex of the Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/170 on uniform detailed specifications for data collection and analysis to monitor and evaluate the functioning of the EURES network.

20 Commission Implementing Decision on templates and procedures for the exchange of information on the EURES network national work programmes at EU level.

21 Since May 2021 the governance of the ECG is under ECO in ELA.

22 See Article 19 of the EURES Regulation (EU) 2016/589

23 This survey was conducted throughout the reporting period and is still available on the Europa server at https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/trunner/EURESHelpdeskSurvey2022. The survey link is part of the EURES Helpdesk signature, included in all Helpdesk replies sent out by email and chat. During the 24-month reporting period, a total of 1 188 users replied to the survey, out of 19 808 users who received the survey.

24 The European (Online) Job Days is a platform that helps intermediary organisations, such as public employment services, to organise recruitment events both on-site and online – events known as ‘European Job Days’. This platform was created in 2011.

25 The extranet is the section of the EURES portal only available to internal users, such as EURES advisers, national coordinators, and ECO staff. It facilitates the coordination, exchange of information and administrative tasks.

26 The EURES extranet is the name used for the intranet for the whole EURES network.

27 According to ELA’s founding regulation, the Authority has the possibility to set up working groups to fulfil a specific task or regarding a particular policy area. To this date, ELA has four dedicated working groups in which representatives from Member States, the Commission and social partners share their expertise on the dedicated subject: Working Group on Information, Working Group on Inspections, Working Group on Mediation and European Platform tackling undeclared work.

28 This mutual learning event took place on 30 September 2021.

29 These two mutual learning events took place respectively in October 2020 and 2021.

30 These two mutual learning events took place respectively on 17 September 2020 and 24 February 2022.

31 Link: https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en.

32 Annual report on intra-EU labour mobility 2020.

33 Annual report on intra-EU labour mobility 2021.

34 European Commission, Report on Labour Shortages and Surpluses 2020 and 2021.

35 The budget is higher for 2022, as in 2021 ECO was still under Commission until 26 May 2021.

36 When no other source is cited, the results presented in the sections below are based on the data from the NCOs checklists and surveys disseminated for the purpose of this report.

Please note that an action consists of several sub-actions that are not detailed in the table. An action is considered completed (green) if all its sub-actions are completed. An action is considered incomplete (red) when none of its sub-actions are completed. When the sub-actions are not all completed nor all incomplete, the whole action is considered partially completed (orange).

37 It is to be noted that the Action 3 “Appointment of the Public Employment Services relevant for the activities in the EURES network as EURES Members (Article 10)" are considered as partially completed for Croatia and Switzerland. Indeed, they appointed their PES as EURES Members but some sub-actions are not yet completed.

Concerning Switzerland, the sub-actions 'did you notify the ECO about the PES identified and provide explanations in case of changes compared to the situation before the entry into force of the Regulation' and 'In case of changes compared to the situation before the entry into force of the Regulation, did you communicate the changes to the PES which are not to be involved anymore and draw their attention to the consequences' are partially completed.

Concerning Croatia, the sub-actions 'In case of changes compared to the situation before the entry into force of the Regulation, did you communicate the changes to the PES which are not to be involved anymore and draw their attention to the consequences' and 'In case of changes compared to the situation before the entry into force of the Regulation, have you communicated to the Help desk the details as regards the accounts of staff members on the EURES portal to be closed and as of which date?' are reported as not available.

38 The full overview of all EURES Members and Partners can be found here: https://eures.ec.europa.eu/eures-services/eures-your-country_en.

39 One NCO mentioned that the pandemic caused some delays in this process and that they lack the resources to monitor the compliance. Some also mentioned that they do not have Members and Partners yet.

40 30 connection points were enabled to transfer CVs to the portal. It is to be noted that three connection points exist for Belgium (BE Actiris, BE Forem and BE VDAB).

41 It should be noted that the implementation by EURES countries of the adoption or mapping of ESCO is a legal obligation that allows the sharing of CVs and JVs among the network. The Commission oversees the EURES countries’ compliance and took contact with the countries that are not yet compliant to ask for some clarifications.

42 One NCO mentioned changes in their IT systems that lowered the number of CVs transferred because of the difficulty incurred. Another NCO mentioned that they are still working on the technical interface to enable the transfer of CVs, while another NCO mentioned that they still need to test their interface.

43 EURES Ex-post evaluation: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8370&furtherPubs=yes, p. 12.

44 EURES regulation, art 28 and recital 46.

45 These occasional downtimes were ranging between two and ten hours each and were always announced one week in advance to all stakeholders.

46 The full recommendations can be found in the Biennial Report 2018-2020 (see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0046).

47 It is to be mentioned that 2 countries did not report anything concerning their connection to the single coordinated channel.

48 11 EURES countries were in the process of establishing the connection to the single coordinated channel and 12 were connected by the end of June 2020.

49 See EURES reg, and especially Chapter III.

50 As the development and maintenance of the EURES portal remains under the Commission after ECO moved to ELA, continuity was ensured in this regard.

51 Available at: https://www.instagram.com/euresjobs/.

52 ‘European Union around me’ map. See here: https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/meet-us_en.

53  COM/2022/404 final, Putting Vision into Concrete Action.

EN EN