SOLIDAR: Long-term unemployment – SOLIDAR welcomes the Commission’s proposal to help long-term unemployed but attention needs to be paid to the details!

The proposal presented by Commissioner Thyssen on 17 September is a good initiative as long-term unemployment has been a pressing issue for many years now, especially for young people. Being unemployed for more than 12 months at the beginning of a person’s career has a detrimental effect on their future job prospects, earnings and social protection. The elderly are also severely affected by long-term unemployment.

The Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation foresees that all jobseekers, who have been out of work for more than 12 months, receive an individual assessment and a job integration agreement, offering them a concrete and personalised back-to-work plan, before reaching 18 months of unemployment.

SOLIDAR welcomes the approach of an individual assessment to identify needs and abilities on a personalised basis as well as the proposal for a single point of personal contact. This would ensure consistency of support by the different bodies involved, such as public employment services, social services and local authorities.

Nevertheless, SOLIDAR would like to stress the following:

  • The individual person needs to be involved at all stages of the planning, implementation and follow-up of his/her integration agreement to allow for acceptance, motivation and the freedom of choice. A clear distinction between responsibilities and sanctions is necessary.
  • The best integrated services are only of limited effectiveness if quality jobs that enable the individual to live a decent life are not available. Bringing long-term unemployed people into precarious jobs such as zero-hours contracts, mini-jobs etc. is not a first step for their integration into the labour market as often claimed by policy makers.
  • Validation of learning outcomes of non-formal and informal learning is of crucial importance as a tool to empower people, raise their awareness of their competences, and provide a pathway for further learning, qualifications and employment prospects.
  • Investment in the social economy and care and health sector is needed in order to fully exploit its employment potential and provide stable jobs and decent working conditions.
  • The continuous involvement of all relevant stakeholders at local, regional, national and European level throughout the process of developing new approaches to integrated service provision is essential.

Please read SOLIDAR’s fact sheet on the service provision to the long-term unemployed.

SOLIDAR members are working with the long-term unemployed on a daily basis to help them make the step back into work and society. Please find some good practices here:

Full article.