Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States in 2015

PURPOSE: to adopt the guidelines for the employment policies for 2015.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2015/1848 on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States for 2015.

CONTENT: the Council adopted the guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States for 2015. These guidelines are consistent with the broad guidelines for the economic policies of the Member States and of the Union set out in Council Recommendation (EU) 2015/1184. Together, they form the integrated guidelines for implementing the Europe 2020 strategy and are to be adopted by the Council to guide the policies of Member States and of the Union.

The guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States are as follows:

Guideline 5:Boosting demand for labour

• facilitate the creation of quality jobs, reduce the barriers business faces in hiring people, promote entrepreneurship and, in particular, support the creation and growth of small enterprises;
• actively promote the social economy and foster social innovation;
• ensure that the tax burden is shifted away from labour to other sources of taxation less detrimental to employment and growth,
• together with social partners and in line with national practices, encourage wage-setting mechanisms allowing for a responsiveness of wages to productivity developments. When setting minimum wages, Member States and social partners should consider their impact on in-work poverty, job creation and competitiveness.

Guideline 6: Enhancing labour supply, skills and competences

• in cooperation with social partners, should promote productivity and employability through an appropriate supply of relevant knowledge, skills and competences by (i) making the necessary investment in all education and training systems; (ii) improving access for all to quality lifelong learning and implement active-ageing strategies that enable longer working lives; (iii) implementing active-ageing strategies that enable longer working lives;
• address structural weaknesses in education and training systems to ensure quality learning outcomes and to reduce the number of young people leaving school early;
• tackle high unemployment and inactivity through: (i) reinforcing strategies that include individualised active support for a return to the labour market; (ii) addressing youth unemployment and the high number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) through a structural improvement in the school-to-work transition, including through the full implementation of the Youth Guarantee;
• reduce barriers to employment, especially for disadvantaged groups;
• increase female participation in the labour market and ensure gender equality, notably through equal pay;
• make full use of the European Social Fund and other Union funds to foster employment, social inclusion, lifelong learning and education and to improve public administration.

Guideline 7: Enhancing the functioning of labour markets

• take into account the flexibility and security principles (‘flexicurity principles’), reduce and prevent segmentation within labour markets and fight undeclared work;
• provide a suitable environment for recruitment, while offering adequate levels of protection to all those in employment and those seeking employment;
• ensure socioeconomic security, work organisation, education and training opportunities, working conditions (including health and safety) and work-life balance;
• closely involve national parliaments and social partners in the design and implementation of relevant reforms and policies;
• strengthen active labour-market policies by increasing their effectiveness, targeting, outreach, coverage and interplay with passive measures, accompanied by rights and responsibilities for the unemployed to actively seek work;
• aim for better, more effective public employment services to reduce and shorten unemployment by providing tailored services to support jobseekers, supporting labour-market demand and implementing performance-measurement systems;
• promote the mobility of workers by lifting mobility barriers in occupational pensions and in the recognition of qualifications.

Guideline 8: Fostering social inclusion, combatting poverty and promoting equal opportunities

• modernise social protection systems to provide effective, efficient and adequate protection throughout all stages of an individual's life, fostering social inclusion, promoting equal opportunities, including for women and men, and addressing inequalities;
• provide affordable, accessible and quality services such as childcare, out-of-school care, education, training, housing, health services and long-term care;
• pay particular attention to basic services and measures aiming to prevent, reduce and protect against poverty and social exclusion through the life cycle;
• secure the sustainability and adequacy of pension systems for women and men improve the quality, accessibility, efficiency and effectiveness of health and long-term care systems.