EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 15.11.2023

SWD(2023) 717 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT

Accompanying the document

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council

establishing an EU Talent Pool

{COM(2023) 716 final} - {SEC(2023) 716 final} - {SWD(2023) 716 final} - {SWD(2023) 718 final}

Table of Contents

1.    BACKGROUND AND POLICY CONTEXT    

1.1.    Policy and legal contexts    

1.2.    Current challenges    

1.2.1 Demographic trends and skills and labour shortages in key sectors of the EU economy    

1.2.2 Global supply and demand of skilled third-country nationals’ workers    

1.2.3. Challenges related to migration management    

2.    Problem definition    

2.1 What is the problem?    

2.2. What are the problem drivers    

2.2.1 Drivers outside of the scope of the EU Talent Pool initiative    

2.2.2 Drivers related to the employment aspects    

2.2.3 Drivers related to the migration aspects    

2.2.4 Who is affected by the identified problems and in what ways    

2.3 How will the problem evolve?    

3.    Why should the EU act?    

3.1 Legal basis    

3.2. Subsidiarity: Necessity of EU action    

3.3. Subsidiarity: Added value of EU action    

3.4. Proportionality    

4.    Objectives: What is to be achieved?    

4.1 General objective (GO)    

4.2 Specific objectives (SOs)    

4.3. Consistency with other EU policies and with the Charter of fundamental rights    

5.    What are the available policy options?    

5.1 What is the baseline from which options are assessed?    

5.2 Description of the policy options    

5.3. Options discarded at an early stage    

5.4. Options retained for further in-depth assessment    

5.4.1 Non-legislative options    

5.4.2 Legislative options    

6.    What are the impacts of the policy options?    

6.1 Policy Option 1 - Soft measures aiming at improving information provision and facilitating identification and matching (non-legislative option)    

6.2 Policy Option 2 - Developing an EU Talent Pool targeted to address labour market needs in key occupations ​(legislative option)    

6.3 Policy Option 3 - Developing an EU Talent Pool as a fully demand-driven tool ​(legislative option)    

7.    How do the options compare?    

8.    Preferred option    

8.1 REFIT (simplification and improved efficiency)    

8.2 One in, one out approach    

9.    How will actual impacts be monitored and evaluated?    

ANNEX 1 PROCEDURAL INFORMATION    

ANNEX 2 STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION    

ANNEX 3 WHO IS AFFECTED BY THE INITIATIVE AND HOW?    

ANNEX 4 ANALYTICAL METHODS    

ANNEX 5 COMPETITIVENESS CHECK    

Annex 6 Problem assessment from a Demographic Perspective    

Annex 7 Assessment of labour and skills shortages in the EU    

Annex 8 Mapping of existing initiatives at EU and national level    

ANNEX 9 ANALYTICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE POLICY OPTIONS    

ANNEX 10 ASSESMENT OF COST AND BENEFITS OF THE POLICY OPTIONS    

ANNEX 11 SME TEST    

Glossary

1.BACKGROUND AND POLICY CONTEXT 

1.1. Policy and legal contexts

Legal migration is an essential part of the comprehensive approach to migration set out in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum 1 . Effective legal pathways can contribute to the decrease of irregular migration and benefit our labour market. While Member States retain the right to determine volumes of admission for people coming from third countries to work, the EU common migration policy needs to reflect the integration of the EU economy and the interdependence of Member States’ labour markets. This is why, as the New Pact underlines, EU policies need to foster a level playing field between national labour markets as migration destinations. They should also help Member States using their EU membership as an asset in attracting talent.

EU employers are facing structural labour and skills shortages in many professions 2 . The EU transition towards a green and digital economy creates high demand for specific skills in certain sectors and calls for restructuring our economies and labour markets 3 . In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also become clear that labour and skills shortages in the health sector need to be addressed 4 . All these demands for skills are further exacerbated by the prospect of an ageing population and a shrinking working-age population, , posing significant challenges for the EU and its Member States’ prosperity and competitiveness. 

The EU is addressing the labour and skills shortages through a comprehensive approach which includes the activation of the inactive EU population, reskilling and upskilling of the existing workforce 5 , and facilitation of intra-EU mobility. However, in view of the scale of the skills challenges , this approach is not sufficient. Labour migration is part of the solution to skills shortages and some Member States are developing talent attraction policies to this effect 6 . However, they are unable to achieve economies of scale when developing their policies and activities independently.

At the EU level, both the European Skills Agenda and the New Pact on Migration and Asylum recognise the need for a more strategic approach to legal migration, oriented towards better attracting and retaining talent to foster growth and innovation potential and channelling legal migration towards regions and occupations facing skills shortages.

The need to attract the necessary skills to the EU was also mentioned by President von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union address 7  where she also announced the European Year of Skills 8 , as well as an initiative on the recognition of qualifications of third country nationals as part of efforts to make Europe more attractive for skilled workers.

To ensure that the EU becomes more attractive and to improve the overall migration management, the Commission adopted in April 2022 the Skills and Talent Package 9  which puts forward a set of initiatives to reach these goals. In particular, the Package announced the intention to establish an EU Talent Pool: the first EU-wide platform aimed at facilitating international recruitment and providing job opportunities for third country nationals workers 10  at all skills levels 11 . 

The idea of establishing an EU Talent Pool was strongly supported by the European Parliament in its two resolutions on the legal migration policy of 2021 12 as well as by the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Committee of the Regions in their opinions on the Skills and Talent Package 13 . The importance of improving migrants’ access to the EU labour market via matching tools was also mentioned during the Conference on the Future of Europe. 14  In October 2022, the Commission launched the EU Talent Pool Pilot  to facilitate the integration of people fleeing Ukraine into the EU labour market 15 . In parallel, the European Commission is launching Talent Partnerships with specific partner countries to boost international mobility and the development of talent in a mutually beneficial way, as part of a comprehensive approach to migration management. The EU Talent Pool may play a role in their implementation.

By making the EU more attractive for talent from abroad and filling in labour and skills shortages, the EU Talent Pool will directly contribute to the European Year of Skills and will be a key component of the Commission’s Package on talent mobility. 16

1.2. Current challenges

1.2.1 Skills and labour shortages in key sectors of the EU economy

EU employers, in particular SMEs, are facing acute and structural labour and skills shortages in many professions. The unmet demand for labour, as approximated by the job vacancy rate 17 , has more than doubled in less than a decade 18 . As Eurofound reports, in the last quarter of 2022, recruitment challenges experienced by EU employers have reached a record high 19 . In the EU Business and consumer surveys, 26% of company managers responsible for recruitment in industry reported that labour shortages were a factor limiting production, while the corresponding number was 30% in services and 31% in construction 20 . At the same time, 85% of EU firms find that the lack of available staff with the right set of skills is a factor hampering their investments 21 .

Across the EU, the labour and skills shortages concern all skill levels and are largely concentrated in the healthcare and long-term care 22 , hospitality, construction, manufacturing and services, transportation, information and communication technology (ICT) sectors 23 ( a more granular analysis on specific shortage occupations, with more detailed information, is developed in Annex 7).

Member States are reporting sectoral differences as highlighted by the Eurofound study in 2021, which indicated that in the recovery from the pandemic, the emphasis on digital and climate-neutral transitions will give rise to new shortages, as well as exacerbating existing ones. 24 ..

Table 1 : Distribution of sectorial shortages across Member States

Reference: Eurofound Study (2021) Tackling Labour Shortages

The Commission's 2023 Employment and Social Developments in Europe report 25  shows that causes of labour shortages are varied, including low labour market participation of certain population groups, poor working conditions in occupations, skill mismatches and the implications of some tax and benefit systems.

In addition, the prospect of an ageing population 26 and a shrinking working-age population 27  pose further significant pressure for the EU and its Member States ability to effectively address such shortages. 

The share of working-age population is declining while the share of older population is increasing, resulting in a large number of people leaving the labour market to retire 28 and increasing the demand for long-term care 29 . Thus, EU labour markets become increasingly tight, with insufficient active workforce to satisfy employers’ needs 30 . (a more detailed assessment of the demographic trends, including the differences in this regard among Member States, can be found in Annex 6).

The transition towards a climate-neutral European economy under the Green Deal leads to additional demand for labour force and new ‘green skills’ within certain sectors (in particular the construction, energy, manufacturing and transport) 31 . Between 2015 and 2021, labour shortages in key sectors for the green transition doubled and up to 1 million additional jobs are expected to exist by 2030. 32  New skills will be also required for the digital transition of the European economy, which is already hampered by bottlenecks in this area 33 .

Therefore, notwithstanding efforts to upskill and re-skill the EU domestic workforce, to activate the inactive and/or vulnerable EU citizens or to promote intra-EU mobility, labour shortages are expected to increase in the EU, in view of the projected demographic trends and other structural drivers of the EU workforce transformation 34 . These shortages have the potential to limit EU growth, productivity, innovation, competitiveness and the EU’s ability to deliver on its climate and digital ambitions.

Labour and skills shortages are a common European challenge. When comparing the average EU job vacancy rate at the end of 2022 with the same period in 2012 (in the last quarter of the year), it is apparent that difficulties to fill vacant positions have gradually worsened in all Member States over a decade. However, some differences among Member States can be identified 35 .

Three groups of Member States can be identified. First, there is a group most severely affected. These countries have witnessed a steep increase in their job vacancy rate over the past decade. At end of 2022, the unmet demand for labour was most pronounced in Austria, with a vacancy rate of 4.6% compared to merely 1.5% in 2012. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the rate was 4.5% in 2022 – up from 2% and 1.2% respectively. Similarly high numbers were recorded in Germany (4.4% in 2022 versus 2% in 2012) and the Czech Republic (4.2% in 2022 versus 1% in 2012).

A second group (Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Sweden) is experiencing a vacancy rate similar to the EU average of 2.8%. Although none of these countries has a rate more than 1% below the EU average in 2022, they are all confronted with greater difficulties in filling vacant positions when compared to 2012.

The third group consists of Member States whose job vacancy rate remains below the EU average, hence not exceeding 1.8% (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain). Nevertheless, the job vacancy rate has increased considerably in some of these countries. For example, it has more than doubled in Poland (from 0.3% to 0.9%) and Lithuania (from 0.7% to 1.7%). It even increased fivefold in Portugal, from 0.3% in 2012 to 1.5% in 2022.

In addition, the 2022 EURES report 36 has shown that there are differences among Member States in terms of shortage occupations. Member States submitting the highest number of shortage occupations were Italy (205), the Netherlands (166), Belgium (164), Slovenia (107), Denmark (106), Estonia (97), France (77) and Finland (60). The situation varies according to the countries and regions, where certain occupations are affected more than others and could constitute a bottleneck on growth, depending on the economic specialisation of the region (for instance, specialisation of territorial economic districts in specific technologies such as mechatronics) or the sectoral composition of the national business economy (for instance, small and medium-size countries have a less complex business economy than larger ones). 

1.2.2 Global supply and demand of skilled third-country nationals’ workers

There is an upward trend in global mobility 37 . In 2020, 3.6% of the total world population (an estimated 281 million people) were living permanently outside their country of birth 38 , in comparison to 2.8% in 1990. In 2021, 16% of adults worldwide, corresponding approximately to 900 million people had aspirations to migrate permanently 39 . Future trends of international labour migration are difficult to predict 40 . However, the global labour market is likely to continue to absorbe the increasing workforce supply for various reasons, including the global demand generated by the shift to a “knowledge economy” and “net-zero economy” 41 and ageing population of the developed countries.

According to the OECD, the EU as a whole rates high on underlying factors of attractiveness to skilled third-country nationals (TCNs) 42 . However, it appears less effective compared to other OECD countries in converting this attractiveness into actual numbers of TCNs coming to work into the EU 43 . This might also be explained by the differences in perceived attractiveness of specific Member States 44 . Even though several smaller EU Member States are rated high in objective analyses of attractiveness, third-country jobseekers rarely refer to these Member States as preferred destinations for migration 45 . The overall fragmentation and complexity of the EU migration framework also decreases its attractiveness in the eyes of the third-country jobseekers 46 .

Also, in contrast to other developed economies such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the EU has proven unable to attract migrants at all levels of the skills it needs 47 .

The EU’s difficulty in attracting jobseekers from third countries is also linked to the fact that the EU is competing with other advanced economies in attracting the skills and talent that they need in view of the increasing labour shortages at all skills levels 48 . Canada and Australia are consistently more attractive, than the EU according to OECD indicators 49 . What OECD analysis shows is that while job-search visas and labour migration policies are important components to attract migration for employment purposes, additional attractiveness factors include the overall environment, such as the openness of respective societies toward migrants. In this respect, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have built a significant reputation as countries that are open to economic migration. The high attractivness of these three countries for labour migration purposes is also apparent considering that they established “expression of interest” (EOI) systems to better manage migration flows. These systems allow migrants willing to obtain a work permit to be registered in the respective national platform if they meet certain criteria (e.g. education, age and and work experience). Registered candidates are ranked using a point-based system and, on the basis of this ranking, they are selected and invited to apply for a permanent residence permit.  However, EOI systems are not necessarily compatible with the EU and its Member States legal constraints and current regulations as these systems are used to select migrants as a migration management tool 50 .

1.2.3. Challenges related to migration management

A well-managed and sustainable migration framework in the EU can only be achieved with a comprehensive approach, bringing together policy efforts in different areas of migration, as outlined in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum 51 .

Irregular migration, approximated by irregular entries in the EU, constitutes only a small part of the overall migration towards the EU 52 . Still, in 2022, around 330 000 illegal border crossings were detected at the EU’s external border. This is the highest number since 2016 and an increase of 64% from the previous year 53 . As stated by Frontex, faced with stringent requirements for legal migration to Europe, migrants are often left with the only choice to come to the EU irregularly 54 . In the medium term,demographic factors are likely to determine an increase of migratory pressure from Africa. However, what is not known, at this stage, is if this migratory pressure will develop mainly on the African continent or whether it will interest Europe due to geographical proximity and existing economic and migration ties 55 .

There is some agreement among policy makers both at global 56 and EU level 57 that there is a link between enhancing legal pathways and reducing irregular migration, although influenced also by other factors 58 . Research conducted by the United Nations demonstrates that in the absence of appropriate avenues for safe and regular migration pathways, irregular migration will increase, and the smuggling of migrants will continue to provide the most viable means to arrive to their intended countries of destination 59 . Conversely, providing migrants with safe and secure access to entry and/or residence through regulated channels reduces their need to move in unsafe and irregular circumstances, involving engagement with smuggling networks and risks of human trafficking and labour exploitation 60 . Additionally, the Joint Research Centre also points out 61 to this indirect relationship between legal and irregular migration: fostering legal migration channels may have a signalling effect for migrants who could be considering undertaking irregular migration journeys 62 . Providing legal channels for migration could also facilitate cooperation with third countries in curbing irregular migration and stepping up border management 63 . Opening legal channels can also contribute to developing human capital in countries of origin and provide some relief in sectoral niches of the destination countries’ economies.

Consequently, it is key to create safe and effective pathways to reduce the incentives for irregular migration and to engage with third countries strategically on migration management, notably by establishing comprehensive, balanced and tailor-made partnerships 64 . At the same time, in order to reduce irregular migration, studies suggest 65 that a series of additional accompanying measures should be considered, for instance tackling opportunities for employment in the informal economy, border enforcement measures, and resettlement opportunities for those in need of international protection.

2.Problem definition

2.1 What is the problem?

Problem: Insufficient recruitment of third-country nationals through legal migration pathways to address EU labour and skills shortages

The EU Talent Pool initiative aims to tackle insufficient recruitment of third-country nationals (TCNs) through legal migration pathways to address labour and skills shortages in the European Union. 

As explained in Section 1.2.1, the overarching challenge in the EU is the increasing shortage of workforce and skills. Some differences exist in the Member States in terms of scale of the problem and sectors facing the most persistent shortages. However, overall all Member States experience labour and skills shortages at all skills levels and, therefore, labour and skills shortages represent a common challenge requiring a European response.

The EU’s approach to addressing these shortages relies firstly on activating resident inactive populations as well as, re-skilling and up-skilling the existing workforce, improving working conditions, addressing gender segregation, and fostering labour market transitions across sectors and occupations (see Section 4.3 for more details). However, it takes time for such measures to have an actual effect on the labour market and on productivity. In addition, these initiatives may not be sufficient alone to fully address existing and future labour shortages. At national level, Member States are also implementing initiatives to this purpose. However, as acknowledged in the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a European Year of Skills, Member States’ public and private investments in reskilling and upskilling are still insufficient. 66

In addition, current intra-EU mobility 67 is stable and EU mobile workers across Europe are concentrated in a few occupations requiring low and medium skills, such as logistics and low-skilled jobs 68 . Thus, its potential to fully address structural labour shortages is limited, especially considering that shortages are reported across all Member States, in a diverse range of sectors and at all skills levels.

Therefore, attracting talent from outside of the EU is key to address existing and future skills shortages which might not be sufficiently addressed by other initiatives, while reducing irregular migration pressure. Certain Member States already recognise the importance of labour migration as part of the policy solution and are developing talent attraction policies to this purpose. For instance, Germany has recently reformed its legislation and policies to attract workers from third countries 69 . These initiatives include the implementation of specific migration schemes and fast-track immigration procedures to make the obtention of a work permit easier and faster 70 . In addition, certain Member States introduce exclusions from the labour market test for occupations suffering the most persistent shortages 71 . However, these facilitated migration schemes mainly focus on highly-skilled workers 72  while labour shortages are faced at all skills levels. In addition, only few Member States put in place dedicated job matching platforms to facilitate international recruitment of TCNs residing abroad 73  (for a more detailed explanation of existing initiatives in the Member States see also sub-driver 1.1). Notwithstanding, these initiatives are aimed at making labour migration more effective,in 2022, 1.6 million of TCNs received first residence permits linked to employment 74 . While this constitutes a significant number, it only represents 42% of the first overall residence permits 75 (which suggests that the potential for labour migration to the EU is underutilised). In addition, this is still insufficient to meet the gaps of labour shortages in the EU considering that, for instance, companies reported in the first quarter of 2023 around 3.7 million job vacancies (excluding data from Denmark, France, and Italy) of which 2.8% remained unfilled 76 . Extrapolating to the full EU27, the number of reported vacancies may be around 6.3 million with corresponding 175.000 unfilled positions.

2.2. What are the problem drivers

2.2.1 Drivers outside of the scope of the EU Talent Pool initiative

Several different drivers underly the identified problem. One of them lies outside of the scope of migration policy and could not be addressed by the EU Talent Pool initiative: the overall EU attractiveness, which is influenced by factors outside the migration and recruitment framework 77 . This driver will not be analysed in this Report. 

Some other drivers/sub-drivers fall within the migration and employment policies, but are addressed in full or in part by certain inter-related ongoing or envisaged EU initiatives 78 . The analysis of drivers/sub-drivers in sections below covers all their aspects but focuses on those that are addressed by the EU Talent Pool. The drivers and sub-drivers that the EU Talent Pool seeks to address could be divided into two groups: 1) drivers related to the employment aspects and 2) drivers related to the migration aspects. 79  

Figure 2: Main problem and underlying drivers

* Sub-drivers that will be only partially addressed by the EU Talent Pool are coloured with a diagonal stripes pattern.

2.2.2 Drivers related to the employment aspects

In order to apply for a visa or work permit to come to the EU to work, a TCN first needs to receive a job offer from an interested EU employer. However, there are several barriers in international job matching and understanding skills and qualifications of TCNs that make hiring from abroad more challenging compared to recruitment within the EU.

Problem driver 1: Cumbersome and ineffective international job matching

Sub-driver 1.1.: Insufficient channels for and information on international recruitment

As confirmed by the desk research 80 , as well as by the survey of TCNs carried out in the context of a study supporting this Report (‘the Study’) 81 and the feedback gathered within the Expert Group on the Views of Migrants 82 , TCNs encounter difficulties in accessing and understanding information relevant for international recruitment. This includes information about job opportunities 83 , minimum wages 84 as well as information on administrative procedures and living and working conditions in the Member States. Potential migrants need to navigate through fragmented information on different hiring processes, labour laws and profession-specific requirements in different Member States. This may prevent TCNs from looking for a job in the EU. Based on the survey of employers, one of the key barriers for international recruitment is understanding the complex rules and procedures for recruiting workers from outside the EU. This impacts SMEs more severely than bigger companies 85 . As confirmed by the survey in the context of the Study, EU employers face challenges as the existing channels are not effective to attract a suitable pool of TCNs and do not facilitate their successful recruitment, and lack the necessary information and support tools geared towards employers’ needs 86 .

There is no single European job platform with vacancies and information specifically directed at TCNs living outside the EU that aggregates opportunities from across the EU. There are nevertheless several targeted external channels or platforms that TCNs may use 87 . However, all have different shortcomings in terms of the job opportunities and requirements presented, and the support they provide:

·National job boards: Mainly in the local language and tailored to domestic job seekers, they do not provide explicit information on requirements relevant to international applicants (such as language proficiency or administrative procedures for TCNs).

·International job search portals: While aggregating job postings from Europe, they may lack sufficient listings from smaller Member States. Moreover, they often lack country-specific information and support tools on requirements and regulations.

·Social media and online job matching services: Platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, and Freelancer are popular among highly skilled professionals, but they are not widespread among low to medium skilled workers. They neither offer specific information or assistance tailored to TCNs.

·Recruitment agencies: While they are often used by skilled workers, their services may be too costly for those with lower earning potential. In addition, availability of private recruitment agencies’ services for medium and low skills recruitment is rarer. Also, employers for whom international recruitment is a novelty or one-off experience (which may be a case for many SMEs) may struggle to access such channels.

·Job fairs: International job fairs allowing employers and job-seekers to meet in person are costly and may be administratively burdensome when they involve authorization for foreign workers to travel to the event venue. As consequence, they are rare, and involve a limited number of participants.

As mentioned above, some Member States are developing talent attraction policies to facilitate the recruitment of TCNs from abroad with a view to address labour and skills shortages. However, Member States’ approaches vary significantly and information on existing migration schemes is not always easily accessible and understandable for TCNs residing abroad. Several Member States do not have in place official portals or web pages specifically designed to support TCNs in the recruitment process. 88   For instance, the official websites in Croatia and Slovakia provide basic information on available work permits while no specific information is available on employment rules or recognition of qualifications and skills. However, no additional relevant information for the purposes of international recruitment is provided. In absence of an official source of information, TCNs may rely on websites operated by commercial entities or non-governmental organisations offering guidance for free. However, the accuracy of the information may not be guaranteed nor regular updates on existing rules and procedure are ensured.  

Only some Member States have dedicated information portals in place providing comprehensive guidance specifically targeting TCNs looking for job opportunities in the Member State. 89   These portals offer information in the national languages and in English 90 . In some cases, translations in additional languages are provided 91 . A limited number of Member States have developed dedicated job matching portals to facilitate international recruitment 92 . These portals provide additional functionalities to the simple information provision, including the possibility for jobseekers to create a profile and search for job vacancies. For instance, the German platform ‘Make it in Germany’ 93  provides extensive information on the labour market situation and professions in demand, immigration procedures and living and working conditions in the Member States. In addition, it offers to  employers the possibility to upload job vacancies. 94   

Where job portals dedicated to TCNs already exist in the Member States, the available functionalities vary significantly and certain components aimed at facilitating the recruitment such as an automated matching tool are not always available 95 . In addition, in some Member States these platforms are specifically targeting only highly-skilled workers. In addition, the majority of these platforms have a limited uptake in terms of job vacancies posted or the job vacancies available are not exclusively for TCNs 96 . Overall, the lack of a harmonised approach in terms of services available to international recruitment together with the reduced visibility of existing national platforms at global level reduce the Member States ability to achieve economies of scale when developing talent attraction policies individually. 

The majority of the Member States consulted in the context of this initiative confirmed that difficulties in accessing information and identifying relevant channels for recruitment constitute a barrier to international recruitment. The majority of the Member States also confirmed the absence of dedicated job matching platforms for international recruitment at national level and acknowledged the potential added value of the EU Talent Pool which would ensure clearer provision of information on recruitment rules and migration schemes. 97  Member States already having in place similar tools also recognised the potential positive impact of this initiative in complementing existing national systems.

Sub-driver 1.2: High costs of the international recruitment

As reported by the OECD 98 and associations representing employers participating in the survey carried out in the context of the Study 99 , employing TCNs involves significantly higher costs compared to domestic recruitment.

For employers, these costs include: gathering additional information involved in international job-matching through intermediaries, filing relevant applications, administrative expenses such as translating their job postings to different languages, advertising international vacancies, verifying the authenticity of TCNs official documents 100 , and travel or accommodation expenses for interviewing in other countries. These costs can be substantial 101 , especially for hiring the highly-skilled workers 102 and may act as a deterrent for employers.

For TCNs, the main cost factors in the job search phase are linked to translations of necessary documents, administrative fees (e.g. for apostilles) 103 , and fees to receive support from an employment agency or accessing a job search platform 104 . Upon being selected, further administrative fees (related to visa and work permit procedures) will arise, which can be substantial 105 . Such different costs can easily add up to considerable amounts, thus preventing TCNs from considering international recruitment. 106  

As the OECD points out 107 , even when labour shortages or skills needs are significant, such financial burden may lead firms to drop plans of international recruitment, especially SMEs that may lack sufficient resources to engage in such process. Furthermore, TCNs who cannot afford such costs may resort to alternative routes, including irregular migration.

Sub-driver 1.3: Risk of unfair recruitment

Propensity of TCNs to move abroad for work can be impacted by the risk of unfair recruitment practices (personal biases). A main factor behind TCNs’ perception of the risk, and behind actual cases of exploitation is their limited knowledge of the rules and what exactly to expect from and during the procedures of recruitment, of the red flags to look for. 108  

During stakeholder consultations, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) highlighted compelling evidence that the recruitment of third-country workers in the EU often involves abusive practices 109 . The ILO has also emphasised that, in some cases, job postings lack clear minimum specifications for working conditions and employment terms. Workers applying for these positions lack transparent descriptions of the vacancies, both in terms of working standards and wages. This creates substantial risks in terms of fair recruitment. While the situation may not be better in other countries around the world, such practices still cause reputational damage to the EU, and may impact the plans of many qualified TCNs to pursue job opportunities in the EU.

Problem driver 2: Employers and TCNs have difficulties to understand how skills and qualifications obtained in third countries correspond to those required at national level

The need to undergo recognition procedures and the uncertainty about the accuracy, quality and comparability of foreign qualifications constitutes one of the main disincentives for EU employers and TCNs to rely on international recruitment. As part of the Commission’s package on talent mobility, a Commission recommendation aimed at facilitating recognition of qualifications obtained in third countries is planned. It will directly address the issue of complexity and length of the recognition procedures (sub-driver 2.1). The Communication on skills and talent mobility will also announce operational measures to build trust in qualifications and skills gained in third countries, and improve information provision on recognition/validation procedures and decisions. The EU Talent Pool would complement the above mentioned recommendation and measures by improving information provision and support in understanding foreign qualifications and access to the procedures (sub-driver 2.2).

Sub-driver 2.1: Complex and ineffective recognition/validation procedures in the Member States

Recognition procedures allow TCNs holding foreign qualifications to access certain jobs (recognition of professional qualifications) 110 . Formal recognition of foreign professional qualifications is a pre-requisite to perform a job in regulated professions. 111  In non-regulated professions, formal recognition of foreign professional qualifications is not mandatory, but often used to increase employers’ trust in TCNs qualifications and prevent mismatches. However, as demonstrated in the 2019 Legal Migration Fitness check 112 , the process to obtain such recognition is often unpredictable, costly, burdensome and lengthy 113 . This complexity is exacerbated by the fact that this subject is fully regulated by national rules, that can differ from one Member State to another (there is no EU legislation) 114 . Therefore, recognition of qualifications can be an important barrier to international recruitment for both employers and TCNs, especially when it is a pre-condition to access the labour market. This was also confirmed by the Member States’ representatives consulted in the context of the EMN Talent Pool Working Group which recognised the importance of clearer and more understandable provision of information and tailored support on recognition of qualifications procedures.

When formal recognition of foreign qualifications is not required, employers and TCNs may opt for validation procedures to obtain a non-binding statement of equivalence or comparability of the skills and qualifications. 115 Validation of skills and qualifications plays an important role in building employers’ trust in TCN candidates’ profiles and avoiding mismatches. 116  However, similarly to recognition procedures, validation processes can differ from one Member State to another both in terms of rules and competent actors. Validation procedures also imply additional costs and time for employers, especially SMEs, and TCNs 117 .

While both recognition and validation procedures are important for guaranteeing the genuineness and quality of a qualification, lengthy, opaque or burdensome procedures can act as a disincentive to both employers and TCNs.

Sub-driver 2.2: Lack of transparency on comparability of skills and qualifications

According to Expert Group on the Views of Migrants and the Expert Group on economic migration and social and economic partners, information and guidance supporting TCNs and employers to navigate this complex framework is often missing and difficult to access. In addition, employers and TCNs might opt to compare foreign skills and qualifications by themselves instead of undergoing the cumbersome recognition and validation process. However, this exercise is quite complex as employers face difficulties in understanding whether candidates from third countries have the right skills and qualifications to successfully perform a certain job. In addition, the lack of clarity on skills levels and qualifications required in the job vacancies constitutes a major risk of mismatches often leading to over qualification and, therefore, discouraging TCN from applying for a job in the EU 118 .

Therefore, transparency and comparability of skills and qualifications obtained in third countries play an important role in the context of international job matching. At EU level, a number of initiatives have been developed to ensure more transparency and better comparability of skills and qualifications:

·Europass and the EU Skills Profile Tool for third-country nationals offer support to TCNs when creating a profile. This support also benefits employers since it make the candidate profile clearer and more understandable.

·The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and National Qualification Framework (NQF), as well as the multilingual European Classification of Skills Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) offer better understanding of skills and qualifications.

·The ENIC-NARIC network of national academic recognition centres provide information, advice and recognition decisions.

·The European Digital Credentials for learning (EDC) allows for the building, issuing in a digital format, storing, sharing and verification of qualifications and other credentials awarded by educational and training organisations to be understood and verified in all Member States.

However, some of these transparency and comparability tools are not specifically conceived to support employers and TCNs during the recruitment phase but rather to orient national authorities during the recognition procedures. In addition, some of them are not easily accessible and understandable for interested individuals.

2.2.3 Drivers related to the migration aspects

Problem driver 3: Non-transparent and cumbersome immigration procedures

The limited use of labour migration pathways to address the EU labour and skills shortages lies in the overall fragmentation of the migration framework which results in complex and cumbersome procedures difficult to understand and navigate for both employers and TCNs. The lack of transparency on applicable rules exacerbates this complexity. Sub-driver 3.1 will not be tackled by the initiative, as the ongoing revision of the Single Permit Directive will address challenges related to the complexity of the migration framework by making procedures easier and faster. By contrast, the EU Talent Pool initiative will directly address the sub-driver 3.2 by improving transparency of migration rules and procedures.

Sub- driver 3.1: Complex migration framework within the EU with cumbersome procedures

The framework regulating legal pathways for work in the EU is complex and fragmented, consisting of several sectorial EU Directives 119 , which coexist with various national rules and procedures. In this sense, admission criteria, procedures and documents to submit in order to obtain a visa or permit may vary across Member States 120 . In fact, 61% of employers and 52% of TCNs consider difficulties to understand employment and migration procedures as a very important barrier to international recruitment 121 . Additionally, heavily bureaucratic procedures in some Member States have a disproportionate impact on SMEs 122 . Also, as the OECD points out, the fragmented migration system has limited the potential for employers to draw on the wider EU Internal Market as a key factor of attractiveness for TCNs 123 .

Migration procedures are also often lengthy and cumbersome. The average length of international recruitment process is 4-6 months, and approximately half of this time is dedicated to immigration procedures 124 . Most Member States apply labour market tests 125 , which creates an additional step in the recruitment of TCNs and further increases the length of the procedures. 72% of employers and 51% of TCNs believe the entire recruitment and immigration process to be excessively time-consuming 126 . Lastly, as mentioned above (sub-driver 1.2) international recruitment implies significantly higher costs for TCNs and employers in comparison with domestic recruitment also due to administrative fees required to obtain a visa and work permit. 127

These findings were widely supported by various stakeholders consulted 128 .

Sub-driver 3.2: Lack of transparency of migration rules and procedures 

The EU legal migration Directives require Member States to provide public information on conditions for admission and residence, and to grant TCNs and future employers - upon request - access to adequate information on the documents required for making a complete application 129 . However, as concluded in the 2019 Legal Migration Fitness check, TCNs face difficulties in accessing clear information and guidance on migration procedures and personalised support. Rules on adequate access to information differ per Member State and per migration scheme. Websites of some Member States 130 providing such information are difficult to navigate and require a certain level of computer knowledge, and the vast amount of information provided by authorities online is often too technical, incomplete, outdated or misleading 131 . Member States consulted in the context of this initiative identified the difficulties in understanding migration procedures, as a relevant barrier to international recruitment and recognised the need for additional support in that regard.

The EU Immigration Portal helps interested parties by offering information on all aspects related to migration to the European Union 132 . However, jobseekers and employers may not be aware of this information, nor is the Portal fully customised to individual situations, or offer guidance to navigate successfully through the recruitment process.

The lack of transparency and of clear and consistent information at EU level about migration procedures can function as a deterrent factor to potential migrants who consider moving to the EU for work purposes. This represents an obstacle not only for TCNs but also for employers and in, particular SMEs, that lack sufficient means to rely on specialised agencies to provide assistance during the relevant procedures.

Problem driver 4: Inconsistent and fragmented cooperation with third countries on legal migration/migration management

There is a significant fragmentation of Member States’ cooperation with third countries on labour migration. As a result, the EU as a whole is neither fully using its potential to attract the skills needed to address its labour shortages 133 , nor fully exploiting cooperation on labour migration as a way to engage with key partner countries strategically on migration management, notably by avoiding as much as possible the risk of brain drain. The EU Talent Pool will address this driver only indirectly and partially (see below sub-driver 4.1). The direct policy response to this driver is the development of Talent Partnerships at EU level 134 (as well as using the full potential of the EU Delegations and existing migration dialogues). The EU Talent Pool will support the implementation of the Talent Partnerships.

Sub-driver 4.1:  Lack of coordination of Member States’ initiatives and agreements

Due to the increased need for foreign labour force, Member States are multiplying their negotiations of bilateral agreements and programmes with third countries. 17 Member States reported having more than 120 bilateral agreements, programmes and projects concerning labour migration with third countries 135 . The scope of these agreements varies 136 .

This fragmentation prevents Member States from benefitting from economies of scale as regards, for instance, training, skills validation and coordination in the countries of origin, which are costly and time-consuming initiatives 137 . The lack of coordination among Member States’ initiatives can lead to the proliferation of different recruitment activities 138 and duplication of contacts with third countries’ relevant stakeholders. Such fragmentation 139 also prevents the EU from using the full extent of its negotiating potential vis-à-vis third countries in order to reach more favourable agreements as regards labour migration and other aspects of migration management 140 .

Talent Partnerships, that the EU is currently developing, offer a framework for enhanced coordination in this field. They combine mobility schemes with investments in skills development in partner countries as a way to help attract talent to the EU and foster deeper and mutually beneficial cooperation on migration management with key third countries 141 . Investment in education and training help developping the pool of workers with relevant skills to the benefit of both destination countries and countries of origin 142 .

Experience with past and ongoing pilot projects on legal migration have demonstrated the challenges in engaging employers in such schemes 143 . Matching TCNs taking part to Talent Partnerships with relevant EU employers is expected to remain one of the most significant challenges under the Talent Partnerships. The EU Talent Pool will help overcoming this challenge, therefore indirectly and partially addressing this driver of the problem. For further information on the interplay between the EU Talent Pool and Talent Partnerships, see Annex 9. 

Sub-driver 4.2: Limited capacity of certain Member States to engage in migration cooperation with third countries 

Despite the labour shortages across all EU Member States, several Member States do not engage in activities on labour migration with third countries. Certain Member States lack the administrative and resource capacity to launch dialogues with third countries on comprehensive migration partnerships on legal migration 144 . The experience with pilot projects has also shown that engaging EU employers in structured cooperation with third countries, as well as developing efficient recruitment mechanisms, requires time and efforts 145 . This results in unstable and inconsistent cooperation based on sporadic contacts and not producing long-term results. This lack of capacity puts smaller Member States at a natural disadvantage in attracting foreign workers compared to larger labour markets, which not only offer more employment opportunities but also give migrants the chance to better match their qualifications with vacancies, thereby avoid working in less attractive and underqualified professions 146 . Moreover, even Member States with sufficient capacity would be able to engage with more relevant partner countries if they could rely on the EU capacity to establish such cooperation.

2.2.4 Who is affected by the identified problems and in what ways

EU employers and business are negatively affected as they face limitations and excessive (administrative) burdens in their possibilities to hire TCNs and address EU skills shortages. SMEs are particularly affected, as they often have lower attraction potential or insufficient capacity to engage in international recruitment.

Indirectly, EU citizens are also negatively affected as international recruitment insufficiently contributes to tackling skills shortages, demographic ageing and the increasing old-age dependency ratio. This leads to a loss in public revenues and affects financial viability of the EU’s welfare systems (e.g. pension systems), and hinders the EU green and digital transition, which has a direct impact on the EU citizens. They are also adversely affected if goods and services are not available due to the unmet EU labour shortages.

National, regional and local authorities of Member States are negatively affected as they have to apply complex existing rules and do not benefit from the economies of scale and join solutions. Additionally, since the potential of legal migration is not fully used in relations with third-countries within the context of the overall migration management, they may face higher migratory pressures.

TCNs are negatively affected by the obstacles to job-matching, international recruitment, complexity of immigration procedures and administrative burden. These obstacles may effectively discourage TCNs from applying for work in the EU. TCNs also risk being overqualified in view of mismatches and lack of understanding of their skills and qualifications.

Third countries are negatively affected, as they are losing out the perspective of higher remittances and the potential for their citizens to be upskilled in the EU, with possibility to also contribute to labour markets of countries of origin (brain gain), for example with regard to circular migration 147 . 

2.3 How will the problem evolve?

How would the problem evolve, all things being equal?

As highlighted in Section 1.2.1. above, the EU will face increasing  labour and skills shortages linked to the structural drivers of the transformation of the EU labour market  further exacerbated by demographic challenges. The working-age population (20-64) is projected to shrink progressively, in the absence of off-setting trends. Without positive net migration from outside the EU, this decline would be even stronger and the increase in the old-age dependency ratio would also be more severe (see Annex 6). Moreover, an important number of regions (82 accounting for approximately 30% of the European resident population) are already experiencing or are facing the risk of falling into a talent development trap 148 . In addition, 69% of EU municipalities declare that the lack of green skills in their administration is a factor slowing down their climate-related investments 149 .

While there is no reliable overview of how labour migration flows will evolve at the global level in the future, it is possible to model the evolution of the labour demand and supply at the EU aggregated level (on the basis of, respectively, Cedefop and Eurostat projections made in 2023) 150 . Eurostat projections (EUROPOP2023 published in March 2023 by Eurostat) are, to this day, the latest Eurostat population projection, including several net-migration scenarios; they represent the official EU hypothesis on how the population size and structure of European countries (EU27 + 3 EFTA countries) would change, on the basis of a set of assumptions for future levels of fertility, mortality and migration. These projections foresee that as of 2035, the aggregated EU population will start to decline in a significant way, especially in current EU Member States in the East, also depending on the development of the conflict in Ukraine and the geopolitical situation 151 .

On the side of labour demand, Cedefop’s 2023 Skills forecast projects that the need for workers in the EU27 in cumulative terms - both new EU27 labour market entrants and TCNs – will result in approximately 68 million vacancies by 2030 152 . This concerns all skill levels and covers both replacement of workers leaving the labour market due to retirement and additional jobs needed for the economy, including for the green and digital transition 153 . The breakdown of job openings and the relative level of skills projected by CEDEFOP is available in Annex 7.

On the side of the future labour supply, young EU workers would not even be able to replace the retiring workers, leaving a cumulative gap of 5.6-8.8 million vacancies by 2030 154 . According to the 2023 Employment and Social Developments (ESDE) report 155 , the maximum number of the inactive EU population that could be activated and join the EU labour market by 2030 is around 50 million, in the best-case scenario.

Therefore, attracting talent from outside the EU will be necessary to fill at least partially this gap and address the growing need for workers, in parallel to the initiatives aiming to tap the unused potential of the EU workforce. The estimated gross inflows of TCNs 156 coming for employment purposes, based on current projections and net migration scenarios provided by Eurostat, is expected to be about 400,000 per year, adding up to a cumulated 3.8 million by 2030 157 . This number, however, is still insufficient to fill the projected gap between labour demand and supply at the EU level.

The EU is less effective than non-EU OECD countries in increasing the actual number of TCNs migrating for work 158 . Thus, it has been so far less able to tap the potential of increased global mobility as labour migration is expected to increase together with mobility resulting from the climate change. Therefore, without addressing the insufficient recruitment of TCNs, the EU as a whole will have additional difficulties in attracting workers of all skill levels.

Without EU action the problems and drivers identified above will persist, notably cumbersome and ineffective job-matching, difficulties to recognise qualifications and skills obtained in third countries, as well as non-transparent and costly immigration procedures. They will continue to be factors deterring employers from filling the shortages through international recruitment of TCNs and preventing the talents the EU needs from applying for a job in the EU. Moreover, high administrative costs and other barriers related to recruitment will continue to affect employers. As a result, there will be a high risk of competition between Member States in attracting workers, resulting in a lack of competitiveness of the EU as a whole. An inconsistent and fragmented cooperation with third countries will prevent Member States from fully exploiting the role of labour mobility in the overall migration management, and benefiting from economies of scale in skills development and validation, as well as in recruitment.

3.Why should the EU act?

3.1 Legal basis

The legal basis for Union action is Article 79(2) (a) TFUE. This provision gives the power to the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure to adopt measures in the area of the conditions of entry and residence of third country nationals.

The EU Talent Pool aims at facilitating international recruitment of TCNs residing abroad and wishing to work in the EU. As finding a job and obtaining a job offer is a pre-condition for TCNs to acquire a right of entry and residence in a Member State, the action of the Union legislator which makes it easier for a TCN to receive a job offer from an employer in a Member State, as is the case of the EU Talent Pool, allows the TCNs to fulfil this condition. The envisaged action of the Union legislator therefore falls within the area of the conditions of entry and residence of TCNs.

3.2. Subsidiarity: Necessity of EU action

The principle of subsidiarity applies since this is an area of shared competence.

As demonstrated in this Report, all Member States face skills and labour shortages that are expected to worsen in view of the demographic challenges and requirements of the twin transition (green and digital). While Member States are already addressing these shortages by re-activating the domestic workforce and improving intra-EU mobility, these efforts might be insufficient to fully address existing and future shortages (See also Sections 2.1 and 5.1). For this reason, some Member States already recognised the key role of legal migration and developed talent attraction policies which include specific schemes to streamline migration processes, the exclusion from the labour market test for certain shortage occupations and, in few instances, international job matching platforms. However, as explained in Section 2.3, the expected number of TCNs arriving to the EU for labour migration purposes is expected to be insufficient in comparison with the expected labour demand.

National initiatives and policies to improve international recruitment of TCNs are widely fragmented and vary across Member States with regard to their scale of intervention. Although some digital platforms and talent attraction tools have been set up at national level, they exist in only a few Member States and are limited in scope (e.g. focusing mainly on highly-skilled workers), while the EU shortages concern all skill levels, thus not addressing the EU dimension of the issue (See sub-driver 1.1 and Annex 8).

Overall, the lack of a harmonised approach together with the potentially limited visibility of existing national platforms at the global level reduce the Member States’ ability to achieve economies of scale when developing talent attraction policies individually. Therefore, the insufficient recruitment of TCNs through existing labour migration channels to address EU labour and skills shortages cannot be addressed sufficiently by individual Member States: Member States acting alone, especially smaller Member States with less visibility worldwide, may not be able to compete for TCNs workers. This aspect was also widely confirmed by the Member States in the context of the targeted consultations conducted during which the importance of addressing the problem at EU level was acknowledged 159 .

A unified EU platform could help connect and bridge the gap between TCN labour supply and EU demand, thus attracting the foreign talent to a greater extent to what Member States acting alone would achieve.

3.3. Subsidiarity: Added value of EU action

The EU as a whole is more attractive for TCNs interested in migration than the sum of its Member States individually. The EU Talent Pool, as one EU-wide job matching platform offering also transparent information on immigration and recruitment processes as well as support services would improve the overall efficiency of labour migration management at EU level and promote the EU as a destination for foreign workers. Thanks to the economies of scale, the EU would be better equipped to compete on the global stage in attracting foreign talent. This will ensure that a greater number of potential candidates with the right skills are encompassed, and the labour needs of employers in each Member State are better addressed. It would send a clear message to TCNs workers that the EU welcomes them in it labour market, while providing protection against unfair recruitment. All this will help addressing labour and skills shortages across all the EU.

This initiative would not replace national initiatives and platforms in the context of international recruitment nor define Member States’ talent attraction policies. In addition, as the EU Talent Pool does not constitute a new legal migration pathway, it would not affect the right of Member States to determine volumes of admission of third country nationals to their territory nor their discretion in introducing labour market tests at national level. As a voluntary tool to facilitate international recruitment, the EU Talent Pool would offer additional support at EU level. Hence, Member States would be able to maintain their tools in place and complement them with the new platform.

Hence, this initiative would have the added value of supporting Member States that are already developing talent attraction policies. Member States that do not have a similar tool in place would be able to use the EU Talent Pool instead of setting up their own. Overall, the EU Talent Pool would allow to attract third country nationals’ workers from abroad where labour and skills shortages in the Member States cannot be sufficiently filled otherwise. In addition, by providing an EU-wide platform with a wider range of tools and services to facilitate international recruitment, the EU Talent Pool would ensure more visibility of EU employers’ job vacancies at global level as well as a making a wider pool of potential candidates available to EU businesses.

In particular, Member States having in place national initiatives or specific migration schemes aimed at attracting third country nationals for labour purposes, would benefit from the EU Talent Pool as the provision of online information and the support of the National Contact Point would make these initiatives more visible at global level and improve the understanding by third country nationals of relevant rules, hence facilitating their access to the procedures and making them more attractive.

Member States applying the labour market test, would remain free to continue applying it and the principle of preference for Union citizens would be fully respected. Member States having in place national recruitment platforms or other online tools specifically targeted to international recruitment would be able to complement them with the EU Talent Pool as technical interoperability with the national systems would be ensured. Interoperability with the nationals systems would avoid duplications and proliferation of tools.

The potential added value of the EU Talent Pool in supporting Member States to address labour and skills shortages was widely acknowledged by the Member States during the targeted consultations. In particular, Member States having similar platforms already in place such as Germany and Spain, welcomed the initiative as a way to complement their current efforts on international recruitment. In that regard, the importance of ensuring interoperability with the national systems was widely stressed. Overall, Member States considered that the provision of information on existing rules and procedures at EU level via the EU Talent Pool would be particularly beneficial to address barriers to international recruitment, including with regard to procedures for the recognition of qualifications. In addition, smaller Member States stressed the importance of developing an EU-wide platform enhanching their visibility at global level. Overall, the possibility for employers to access a wider pool of candidates from third countries was considered to provide relevant added value which could not be achieved by the Member States acting individually.

3.4. Proportionality

The Talent Pool would not constitute a new legal migration pathway. It would not affect the right of Member States to determine volumes of admission of TCNs coming from third countries to their territory in order to seek work. If the objective of the initiative was to create an EU platform for the selection and matching of candidates with the EU employers’ vacancies, which includes also processing of personal data, it would have to be set out in a Regulation. On the contrary, the initiative is limited to those aspects that Member States cannot achieve satisfactorily on their own, and where the Union is in a better position to act in view of achieving economies of scale. The EU Talent Pool leaves the scope for national job matching platform and tools, as it ensures that they are interoperable with it, so that they collectively act towards increasing international recruitment.

4.Objectives: What is to be achieved?

4.1 General objective (GO)

Based on the problem analysis and the EU's existing legal framework in the field of legal migration, the general policy objective of the EU Talent Pool initiative is:

Supporting international recruitment of third-country nationals via legal pathways to address EU labour and skills shortages

4.2 Specific objectives (SOs)

The specific policy objectives are:

1)Ensuring more effective international job matching. This specific objective aims at making the TCNs seeking job opportunities in the EU and relevant job vacancies of EU employers easily identifiable and accessible. It also aims at making recruitment rules more transparent and at facilitating the matching process between TCNs and employers. All of this would contribute to the general objective as barriers to international recruitment would be reduced;

2)Improving comparability of skills and qualifications obtained in third countries with those required at national level. This specific objective aims at enhancing employers’ understanding of TCNs’ skills and qualifications to better assess their ability to perform the job identified in the relevant job vacancies. Similarly, TCNs would be able to better compare their skills and qualifications with the national ones. A better understanding and improved comparability of skills and qualifications would be achieved by ensuring clearer information on recognition and validation procedures in the Member States. This would facilitate access to the relevant procedures, support international recruitment of TCNs and mitigate the risk of mismatches;

3)Improving understanding and access to the migration procedures. This specific objective aims at making information on migration procedures in the Member States clearer and easier to access to TCNs and employers interested in international recruitment. Making the legal migration framework more understandable would facilitate access to the procedures and, therefore, support international recruitment of TCNs via legal pathways;

4)Incentivising cooperation on migration with third countries, including in the context of a Talent Partnership. This specific objective aims at making cooperation on migration management with third countries more effective by providing a tool to implement mobility and skills development schemes in mutually beneficial way.

These specific objectives are targeted to what is realistically achievable in the context of this initiative. While all these specific objectives are measurable over time, the development and operationalisation of the initiative would require some time and, therefore, it would not be possible to immediately measure to what extent the EU Talent Pool achieved these objectives. In addition, given the voluntary nature of the EU Talent Pool, Member States would be able to decide whether they are interested in participating. This initiative would be designed to attract the highest number of Member States and it was widely welcomed by the Member States consulted. Therefore, a high uptake is expected. However, a gradual progress is expected as only certain Member States might join the initiative at an early stage with other expected to join in the longer run once the EU Talent Pool is fully operational (for a detailed explanation of these assumptions see Section 6). Therefore, the achievement of the specific objectives would also be dependent on the higher or lower uptake of the initiative by the Member States.

Figure 3: Links between the problems and their drivers with the objectives

* Sub-drivers that will be only partially addressed by the EU Talent Pool as it complements other initiatives are coloured with a diagonal stripes pattern.

4.3. Consistency with other EU policies and with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights

The EU Talent Pool initiative would make existing rules more understandable and easy to access by facilitating access to information on the existing legal migration framework. Therefore, this initiative would improve the use of the EU legal migration Directives 160 .

Equally, it would help implementing Talent Partnerships by providing a tool for effective job placements of TCNs participating in these partnerships, thus increasing effectiveness of the EU cooperation with third countries on legal migration and, as a consequence, of the overall migration management (a detailed description of the possible links between the two initiatives is provided in Section 5). While the EU Talent Pool would offer a tool to support job placements in this context, it would not constitute the only way to implement those partnerships. While synergies would be built between the two initiatives, they remain separate and Member States participating in a Talent Partnership would not be required to participate in the EU Talent Pool or vice versa. The EU Talent Pool would be a voluntary tool aimed at supporting Member States’ international recruitment without replacing existing national tools or talent attraction policies just as participation in the Talent Partnerships is also voluntary. This also applies to Member States participating in a Talent Partnership that will remain free to decide whether they want to participate in the EU Talent Pool.

Being open also to TCNs in need of international protection, the EU Talent Pool would be in line with the Commission Recommendation on promoting complementary pathwayas for refugee to work in the EU 161 .

Labour and skills shortages have diverse root causes requiring a wider range of different solutions to sufficiently address them. Thus, the EU Talent Pool is part of a wider policy mix and it will complement EU policy initiatives which strive to address labour and skills shortages in the EU (notably the European Skills Agenda), contributing to the achievement of the green and digital transition in the EU, like the Net Zero Industry Act and the Green Deal Industrial Plan. As part of a comprenshive policy solution this initiative would contribute to fill the remaining skills gaps that might not be sufficiently achieved by activating, upskilling and reskilling the domestic workforce and improving intra-EU mobility.

As an initiative under the European Year of Skills, the EU Talent Pool is one of the key components of the Commission’s Package on talent mobility which presents a set of mutually reinforcing actions to make the EU more attractive to talent and to promote mobility inside the EU. In particular, it would contribute to the effectiveness of the Commission Reccomendation on the recognition of qualifications of third country nationals which is adopted as part of this package. By providing clearer information on recognition of qualifications procedures in the Member States, the EU Talent Pool would contribute to making the access to these procedures easier and faster.

It is also in line with the EU policies aimed at deepening and upgrading the Single Market: as stressed in the Commission Communication " Upgrading the Single Market: more opportunities for people and business ", Europe would benefit from attracting more innovators from the rest of the world.

This initiative is consistent with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and enhances the right to engage in work and choose an occupation (Article 15), fair and just working conditions (Article 31), the right to good administration (Article 41) 162 and non-discrimination (Article 21). As the EU Talent Pool requires processing of personal data, it would need to take into consideration the requirements under Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter (as interpreted in the case-law of the Court of Justice) and the EU data protection legislation, namelythe General Data Protection Regulation Regulation and the Data Protection Regulation for Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies 163 .

The proposed policy action is both coherent and compatible with international law, in particular the UN Global Compact 164 . It also contributes to achieving some of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (for a more detail description, see Section 6 and Annex 3). 165

5.What are the available policy options? 

5.1 What is the baseline from which options are assessed?

Labour and skills shortages have diverse root causes requiring a wide range of different actions to fully address them. Several initiatives are being developed at EU and national level to reactivate, upskill and reskill domestic workforce and improve intra-EU mobility. 166  Whilst it is clear that additional efforts need to be done through initiatives on activation to get more people into the labour market (22% of the working-age population remains still inactive), it is difficult to precisely predict the results of these initiatives and their evolution over time. In particular, it is complex to quantify to which extent the EU domestic workforce will address labour and skills shortages. As mentioned in section 2.3, young EU workers would not even be able to replace the retiring workers and according to the Employment and Social Developments (ESDE) 167 report the maximum inactive population that could be available in the EU labour market by 2030 is around 50 million, in the best-case scenario. Considering that, according to Cedefop, the expected number of job vacancies in the EU will reach approximately 68 million cumulatively by 2030, the EU domestic workforce alone might not be sufficient to fully address future skills and labour shortages, even taking into account the impact of work automation in sectors affected by labour shortages, such as manufacturing, or the possible uses of Artificial Intelligence to increase productivity and to supplement skills. Although approximate and based on different assumptions and methodologies, the projected vacancies and the potential activation of domestic EU workforce are pointing a substantial gap between supply and demand of labour, in the foreseeable future, amounting to significant labour shortages which cannot be addressed by domestic labour supply only. This was also confirmed in the Decision on the European Year of Skills and in the Skills and Talent Package where the key role of legal migration in contributing to address these shortages and filling the remaining gaps is acknowledged.

Should no EU action be undertaken to solve the identified problem, the baseline scenario is the current status quo, which means that there is no EU-wide matching platform that facilitates international recruitment of third-country nationals residing abroad.

Approaches and tools on talent attraction will continue to vary across Member States depending on their different capacities and mechanisms established at national level. In addition, smaller Member States will continue to face challenges in attracting TCNs to their labour market, with fewer job offers. The EU will therefore not benefit from an economy of scale in attracting talent from abroad to address the current labour shortages and future demand, which cannot be filled either by upskilling and reskilling the domestic workforce or by intra-EU mobility.

At EU level, the EU legal migration Directives will continue to provide for harmonised conditions of entry and residence for certain categories of nationals from non-EU countries, including for labour purposes. 168 However, without an EU job-matching platform that would underpin them, they would be less used than they could be 169 . 

The  EU Immigration Portal  will continue providing foreign nationals interested in moving to the EU with both a general overview of immigration policy in the EU and specific practical information about national procedures and migration profiles.

In addition, in October 2022 the EU Talent Pool Pilot was launched to support the integration into the labour market of people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Under this Pilot initiative, beneficiaries of temporary protection residing in a Member State are now able to register their CVs on the EURES platform and seek job opportunities in another Member State. While the EU Talent Pool Pilot is specifically conceived to facilitate integration in the labour market of beneficiaries of temporary protection already in the EU, the EU Talent Pool proper would be directed at attracting third-country nationals not already residing in the EU. Therefore, the two initiatives have a different logic and scope of application and the lessons learnt from the Pilot can be used for this initiative only to a limited extent. However, the Pilot experience shows the importance of conducting an extensive awareness campaign in order to reach out to those TCNs potentially interested in using the tool. In addition, the relevant role of the Public Employment Services (PES) was equally confirmed. On the limitations linked to the use of the EURES platform see Section 5.3 on the options discarded at an early stage.

There are also some existing or envisaged policy instruments that would partially mitigate the identified problem, by addressing some of its drivers:

·The recast Single Permit Directive, once in place will make the application procedure for the single permit faster and easier, thus addressing partially the issue of fragmented and cumbersome migration procedures;

·Talent Partnerships are one of the key aspects of the external dimension of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. They provide a flexible and strategic framework to strengthen cooperation between the EU, Member States and key partner countries and to boost international labour mobility and development of talent in a mutually beneficial way. By pooling efforts of the EU and its Member States and supporting actions requiring considerable investments (e.g. skills development), they will achieve economies of scale and engage key partner countries strategically in all areas of migration management. The Commission is steering the development of Talent Partnerships with five partner countries (Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Bangladesh and Pakistan). France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are participating in at least one Talent Partnership. Following the launching Roundtables, these Talent Partnerships are now moving towards implementation, with concrete programmes and roadmaps being defined.

Talent Partnerships will continue to grow in number and in scale, fostering cooperation with key partner countries on legal migration. It is estimated that by 2030 the EU will have Talent Partnerships with ten third countries. However, without an implementing tool that supports the matching of EU employers with TCNs participating in Talent Partnerships, realising their full potential will be more difficult. Depending on the will of Member States, EU Delegations in third countries could play a stronger role in coordinating and multiplying EU efforts and initiatives on labour migration.

·Some existing profile building tools (e.g. Europass, the EU Skills Profile Tool for third-country nationals) and other tools enhancing transparency and comparability of qualifications (e.g. the EQF, the European Digital Credentials for Learning, ESCO, ENIC-NARIC Network, etc.) will continue to offer support. However, as mentioned above, some of these transparency and comparability tools are mainly conceived to guide national authorities during the recognition procedures. Thus, they are not easily accessible and understandable for interested individuals;

·The EU Talent Pool would be a key component of the Commission’s package on talent mobility 170  which is planned as part of the European Year of Skills. While the package will include a Commission Recommendation on the recognition of qualifications of third country nationals and announce operational measures to achieve easier and faster recognition of professional qualifications acquired in third countries. It will not, however, directly address other challenges related to international recruitment. In addition, the Council Recommendation on ‘Europe on the Move’ – learning mobility opportunities for everyone which is also part of this package will specifically promote mobility of learners as well as learning mobility from abroad.

5.2 Description of the policy options

As announced in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum as well as the Skills and Talent Package, the EU Talent Pool would be the first EU-wide platform aimed at facilitating international recruitment. This defines the remit of the current policy intervention. For this reason, all the policy options identified aim at establishing an EU Talent Pool, as the first EU-wide platform aimed at facilitating international recruitment and providing opportunities for TCNs to work in areas which are of EU and Member States interest, notably by facilitating the matching between vacancies in the EU and TCNs workers from outside the EU. Successful matches may result in job offers that serve as prerequisites for obtaining residence permits within any labour migration pathway to the EU. The Policy Options (POs) will also analyse how the EU Talent Pool could further simplify the recruitment processes, for example by improving the provision of information and offering specific support services to employers and TCNs.

The Policy Options range from non-legislative (PO1) to legislative actions (PO2 and PO3) either partially based on existing frameworks or envisaging stand-alone legislative solutions. With regard to the methodology, the POs are designed to cover the full spectrum of possible EU intervention while ensuring a balance between the need to attract TCNs to address labour shortages and the expected quality of these matches. For this purpose, the rationale underlying the elaboration of the POs is based on two criteria:

1)The scale of the intervention ranging from a more targeted approach to an open and wider/demand-driven action (see scope of application in the POs description below);

2)The intensity of the intervention with regard to functionalities and supporting/accompanying services available to facilitate the recruitment (PO1 with limited functionalities, PO2 with higher functionalities but limited in terms of IT solution, PO3 with the same functionalities as in PO2 and sophisticated IT solution; see, for instance, search and matching tools and personalised support described in the POs below).

To ensure clarity, each PO is organised in building blocks (e.g. scope of application, governance, IT platform, and user journey) that cover specific policy measures and alternatives. Some of the alternatives were not retained for further assessment, as described in Section 6. The detailed description of the POs and analytical methods used is described in Annexes 4 and 9.

5.3. Options discarded at an early stage

The following PO was not retained for further in-depth assessment:

Developing an EU Talent Pool by fully extending the existing EURES network for international recruitment purposes

The EURES network/platform 171 aims at supporting the recruitment of jobseekers for intra-EU mobility, in particular by matching EU mobile workers 172 interested in working in another Member States with job offers of EU employers. Given the similar objectives of the EU Talent Pool, the possibility to extend the scope of application of EURES network/platform to also facilitate the recruitment of TCNs residing abroad was considered. The option was discarded as it was not legally feasible, due to the non-compatibility of the two legal bases (Articles 79 and 46 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which fall under two different Titles of the TFEU 173 , and cannot be combined.

Developing an EU Talent Pool open to TCNs already residing in the Member States

An EU Talent Pool open to TCNs already residing in the Member States was discarded as it goes beyond the objective of this initiative (designing an international recruitment tool to improve legal migration by making the EU more attractive for TCNs from abroad). TCNs legally residing in the EU can either rely on domestic labour market activation policies with the support of the Public Employment Services (PES) when looking for a job locally or rely on EURES, in case they can benefit from intra-EU mobility. Giving them in addition access to the EU Talent Pool would entail the risk of discrimination with regard to the EU citizens, who would only have access to the EURES or PES services, as appropriate.

Developing a mandatory EU Talent Pool for all Member States 

This option was not retained for further assessment due to political feasibility. The consultations with relevant stakeholders clearly showed the very low political acceptance of this alternative as it would impose on Member States the use of the EU Talent Pool platform to support international recruitment. Member States consulted on the initiative during the Labour Migration Platform were unanimously and strongly against the development of a mandatory platform. Social and economic partners also pointed out the need to ensure a flexible tool available to support international recruitment. Moreover, in its resolution 174 the European Parliament called for establishing an EU Talent Pool, while recommending that “the EU talent pool would serve as an optional tool that Member States could use to meet the demands of and shortages in the Member States’ labour markets that cannot be met by the domestic workforce”. Against this background, it seems that a proposal setting out a mandatory EU Talent Pool would not be supported.

5.4. Options retained for further in-depth assessment

5.4.1 Non-legislative options

Option 1: Soft measures aiming at improving information provision and facilitating identification and matching (non-legislative option)

This option would involve non-legislative actions aimed at creating a repository of CVs of TCNs that interested employers would be able to consult. It would also provide for further functionalities to improve transparency of immigration procedures. This option partially builds on existing EU tools, and it would be open to all employers and TCNs regardless of their occupations.

5.4.2 Legislative options

The legislative options would lead to the creation of an online platform that would match profiles of TCNs interested in migrating to the EU for work, with vacancies that the EU employers cannot fill otherwise. This platform would also provide for additional services to support international recruitment. The EU Talent Pool would be conceived, under both options, as a one-stop shop for TCNs, employers and national administrations. The criteria for selecting the candidates would depend on the target of the EU Talent Pool (either occupation-specific, focused on highly skilled workers or fully demand-driven). The technical IT solutions would also differ.

Option 2: Developing an EU Talent Pool targeted to address labour market needs in key occupations (legislative option)

This legislative option would envisage the adoption of a new legislative act (based on Article 79(2)(a) TFEU) regulating the scope of application, access criteria, governance, specific features/components and functioning of the EU Talent Pool.

Policy measure discarded at an early stage

The mandatory pre-admission validation of skills and qualifications of all TCNs at EU level by a third-party validator 178  was not retained for further assessment due to political and practical feasibility considerations. 

First, validation procedures are currently conducted at national level and widely differ from one Member State to another (see Section 2.2.2). Currently, it is not practically and politically feasible to harmonise such processes. In addition, it would require the identification of a responsible actor at EU level to conduct such validation. Existing EU agencies could not be tasked with this new responsibility without requiring an extension of their current mandate. Tasking an EU agency with this responsibility or establishing a new entity in charge of validation of skills and qualifications at EU level would require extensive resources.

In addition, imposing the validation of all profiles prior the admission into the pool would appear disproportionate and counterproductive as it would create bottlenecks, high costs and long waiting times. As validation is not a mandatory requirement to obtain a work permit and it is not considered necessary by all employers, this solution would run against the need of ensuring a flexible tool to make international recruitment easier and faster. Also, only a limited number of candidates who have been successfully validated would be admitted to the platform entailing a smaller pool of candidates, restricting drastically the chance of successful matches.

Option 3: Developing an EU Talent Pool as a fully demand-driven tool ​(legislative option)

As per PO2, this legislative option would envisage the adoption of a new legislative act (based on Article 79(2)(a) TFEU) regulating the scope of application, access criteria, governance, specific features/components and functioning of the EU Talent Pool.

Table below provides an overview of the policy measures under each PO which were retained for further assessment under Section 5.4. Additional information is provided in Annex 9.

Table 2: Detailed overview of the policy measures under each policy option

A detailed description on how each option addresses the specific objectives is provided in the visual below on the overall intervention logic:

6.What are the impacts of the policy options?

This section assesses the impact of the POs described in Section 5 and retained for in depth analysis against a series of assessment criteria covering specifically effectiveness, efficiency and coherence. The selected impacts are assessed qualitatively and, where possible, quantitatively.

A wide range of impact categories was then screened in order to identify the key impacts for detailed assessment taking into account the nature of the policy area, the identified problems, the objectives to be achieved, and the views of stakeholders and experts. The impact categories retained are economic impacts, social and fundamental right impacts and enviromental impacts.

For the purpose of assessing the impact, and its intensity, of the POs compared with the status quo (baseline scenario 179 ), the following scale is used:

The assessment of the POs is based on a number of key assumptions:

1.All the POs foresee the development of a voluntary EU Talent Pool giving Member States the possibility to decide whether they want to participate or not. Certain costs and impacts vary depending on the number of Member States participating. In order to provide a clear and realistic assessment, uncertainties linked to the potential uptake of the initiative should be taken into account. To this purpose it was assumed that a minimum of 11 Member States and a maximum of 20 Member States would participate in the EU Talent Pool. A range of costs and impacts estimated under each scenario is presented below in the assessment of each policy option. This assumption was based on a number of considerations. Whilst the initiative would be designed to be attractive as many Member States as possible, it is likely that their participation would be a gradual process with only some Member States joining in the first years of operation and a progressive increase expected in the long run. The minimalistic scenario (with 11 Member States participating) was built taking into account that legal migration is an area of shared competence where Member States tend to be cautious to engage in view of political sensitivity of migration overall. Consultations also demonstrated that some Member States interested in the initiative would wait to see the first outcomes of the operation of the EU Talent Pool before deciding to formally join. Therefore, it was assumed that Member States with a stronger interest may join from the outset, while others will follow after 2030. In the long run, a higher uptake of the initiative is foreseen as demonstrated by the fact that the large majority of Member States consulted welcomed the initiative. In addition, it can be reasonably assumed that several Member States will join in view of the pressing needs related to the challenging demographic situation which would require to rely on legal migration to address future skills and labour shortages that cannot be sufficiently addressed by the EU domestic workforce. 

2.In order to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of each PO, the number of potential users (TCNs and employers) of the platform and expected successful matches by 2030  was estimated. The number of Member States participating would also imply a different number of expected successful matches. A higher uptake of the initiative by the Member States would result in a higher number of TCNs interested in registering their profiles in the EU Talent Pool and, hence, in a higher number of successful matches. Therefore, ranges of expected successful matches with 11 and 20 Member States participating are provided below. 180

Successful matches indicate the number of TCNs selected in the context of the EU Talent Pool and, therefore receiving and accepting a job offer made by an employer for a specific job vacancy 181 . The success rate of matches indicates the number of job offers received by TCNs compared to the number of TCNs who registered their profile in the EU Talent Pool 182 . The job vacancies fulfilment rate shows the percentage of job vacancies that entered the EU Talent Pool and were subsequently filled via this platform as a result of a successful match. 

These estimations show the contribution of this initiative in addressing skills and labour shortages and form the basis to assess the economic impacts and costs of the initiative. Other non-quantifiable factors, such as the quality of the profilesare taken into account in the overall assessment of the POs described below. Thus, the effectiveness of each PO was analysed ensuring a balance between the quantity of matches and their quality. The table below provides an overview of the mentioned estimations and the number of expected successful matches by 2030. As described in the table below, the number of TCNs interested in registering their profiles in the EU Talent Pool is expected to be lower under PO1 considering its reduced attractiveness due to the limited functionalities of the catalogue of TCNs profiles envisaged under this option (e.g. no job vacancies available online). By contrast, under PO2 and PO3, the number of TCNs interested in registering is expected to be higher as a fully-fledged EU platform facilitating the identification and matching is expected to attract more users. However, due to the targeted nature of PO2 focusing only on certain occupations, a lower number of TCNs interested in registering is foreseen under this option in comparison with PO3. With regard to the expected success rate of matches, PO1 ranks lower due to the lack of specific features to facilitate the matching. While under PO2 and PO3 more matches are expected due to their specific components, a higher percentage of success it expected under PO2 as a result of the screening process allowing to limit the pool to only candidates relevant to the targeted occupations, hence ensuring better quality of the profiles.

Table 3: Overview of estimated TCNs registering in the EU Talent Pool and the number of expected successful matches by 2030

The following methodology was used to identify the number of TCNs potentially interested in registering their profiles:

1) The current number of TCNs profiles available in the EUROPASS database was used as a basis to identify the level of interest of jobseekers from third countries that are seeking employment opportunities in the EU 183 . 

2) As labour migration is projected to grow by 2030 184 (and, therefore also the number of potentially interested TCNs), this number was adjusted in line with the past observed trends in labour migration over the last 7 years 185 .

3) Other factors linked to the attractiveness of this initiative and, therefore, increasing the number of TCNs potentially interested were also considered (e.g. results of awareness-raising campaigns specifically promoting the EU Talent Pool). These factors are linked to the specific features and nature of each option. Hence, the final number of TCNs interested in registering in the EU Talent Pool vary depending on the policy option.

The number of expected succesfull matches was also based on a number of assumptions. In particular, a reduction of 1% of TCNs profiles was considered as profiles registered on online platforms are often incomplete, fake or lacking relevant information. An additional reduction of registered profiles was applied to PO2 as a result of the automated pre-screening as certain profiles would be screened out as not relevant for the targeted occupations. On this basis, the number of successful matches was calculated by taking into account the different selection rates under each option. 186  

A detailed explanation of the assumptions is provided in Annex 4.

6.1 Policy Option 1 - Soft measures aiming at improving information provision and facilitating identification and matching (non-legislative option)

6.2 Policy Option 2 - Developing an EU Talent Pool targeted to address labour market needs in key occupations ​(legislative option)

6.3 Policy Option 3 - Developing an EU Talent Pool as a fully demand-driven tool ​(legislative option)

7.How do the options compare?

The table below provides an overview of the ratings of the impacts of each Policy Options, on a score from -3 to +3 (-3 indicating the most negative impact, +3 indicating the most positive impact). While these ratings allow for a comparison between options, the various ratings for a particular option cannot be cumulated since there is no objective basis to weigh one assessment criterion over another.

Table 4: How do the options compare?

EFFECTIVENESS

In terms of effectiveness in achieving the objectives, PO2 and PO3 are equally effective with regard to the achievement of SOs 1, 2 and 3, having either a significantly or moderately positive impact on facilitating different aspects of international recruitment. Although PO3, covering all occupations, is expected to result slightly more matches than PO2, the open nature of this PO would have a moderate adverse effect on the overall quality of the matches in comparison to PO2. Concentrating tools and personalised support on occupations of the EU and national relevance under PO2 would guarantee the highest concentration of matches in the key areas for the EU twin transition and future prosperity as well as the strategic labour market needs relevant for the Member States. At the same time a subset of employers whose job vacancies are not of the EU and national relevance would not be able to use the Talent Pool under PO2. Lastly, PO2 is the only PO that would incentivise cooperation on migration with third countries (SO3), by providing a platform supporting effective implementation of the Talent Partnerships that, in turn, would better engage key partner countries on migration management. PO1 is the least effective in view of its limited scale and functionalities that can be developed by using a non-legislative instrument.

In terms of economic impacts, PO1 is estimated to have a small positive impact, in view of its limited coverage. PO2 and PO3 would both have a comparable medium positive impact but for different reasons. Both POs would guarantee to employers, in particular SMEs, access to a wider pool of candidates, tools facilitating recruitment, information and personalised support that would result in an increased number of recruitments. However, in comparison to PO2, PO3 would have a slightly higher number of matches which would result in additional wages. As a result, PO3 is estimated to have an higher contributibution to GDP than PO2. PO3. On the other hand, PO2, in view of its targeted nature, would guarantee better quality of candidates whose profile is more aligned with priorities of Member States labour migration system and the EU strategic interests like the twin transition and future prospeirty.

As regards social and fundamental rights impacts, PO1 would have small positive social impacts. Both PO2 and PO3 would have medium positive impact on employers, EU citizens and TCNs. They would increase moderately the number of TCNs that could fill in the EU skills and shortages that employers are facing, while not increasing substantially the risk of displacement of the EU citizens and positively impacting social cohesion. Both PO2 and PO3 are also equal in terms of reducing the risk of unfair recruitment. PO 2 has nevertheless the highest positive impact on third countries given its link with Talent Partnerships.

With regard to environmental impacts, PO2 scores the highest among the assessed POs as it focuses on sectors and occupations of the EU and national relevance, hence also those linked to the green transition. Targeted advertising and concentrating the EU Talent Pool resources on facilitating recruitment of TCNs in those occupations, would increase number of “green” occupations being filled by TCNs. Despite the fact that PO3 would result in higher number of matches in absolute terms, its lack of focus would not necessarily increase the number of “green” occupations filled by TCNs.

EFFICIENCY

In terms of efficiency, PO2 guarantees the best cost/benefits ratio. In terms of governance costs at the EU level, PO2 and PO3 are comparable. By contrast, the costs for national administrations are higher under PO3 as more staff would be needed in the NCPs in view of the EU Talent Pool open to all sectors and for the migration authorities to implement mandatory fast-track migration procedures. In terms of IT costs, PO3 generates more costs as it entails establishing a completely new IT system. As for PO1, it generates the lowest costs in view of its limited scale and non-availability of advanced functionalities foreseen in PO2 and PO3. At the same time, its also entails relatively small cost savings for employers and TCNs. In addition, developing an online catalogue of profiles via a non-legislative instrument would require a number of technical, legal and practical efforts which are disproportionate in comparison with the limited benefits envisaged under this PO. As for costs savings, EU Talent Pool under each POs would be free for users. Employers and business would be able to benefit from time savings linked to the the time and efforts saved throughout the entire recruitment process (difficult to quantify). Opportunity costs are also associated with both PO2 and PO3 (additional wages and revenue gain for using the Talent Pool). In addition, indirect benefits linked to the additional GDP, fiscal contributions and increased remittances for third countries are foreseen under each option. As those benefits result from the higher number of TCNs working in the EU, they vary under each policy option according to the number of expected successful matches. The table below provides an overview of how the different policy options compare in terms of costs/benefits analysis.

Table 5: Overview of how the different policy options compare in terms of costs/benefits analysis

COHERENCE

All three POs would be in line with both EU migration as well as social and economic policies. They would contribute to the European Year of Skills as a key component of the package on talent mobility.

8.Preferred option 

After the assessment of the impacts, effectiveness and efficiency of the POs, as well as stakeholders’ acceptance the preferred option is PO2. This option is the one that the most effectively addresses the problem drivers as well as the associated costs and impacts, and achieves the objectives of the initiative in the best way. This option is the most economically convenient to reach the objectives of this initiative.

The preferred option notably includes the development of a voluntary tool for interested Member States with a targeted approach focusing on certain occupations of EU and national relevance with specific facilitations for Talent Partnerships. The EU Talent Pool platform would integrate specific tools to facilitate the identification and matching, while benefitting from re-using of certain EURES IT components. The visual below provides an overview of the functioning of the preferred PO.

Figure 4: Overview of the functioning of the preferred policy option

* The boxes in grey indicate the governance structure, those in blue the user journey while the orange identify the main functionalities of the tool.

The targeted nature of this PO would allow to develop a strategic approach to the EU labour market needs. The identification of occupations of EU and national relevance would enable to specifically target occupations suffering from structural labour and skills shortages where there is an actual need to attract TCNs from abroad. This PO would allow to address shortages at all skills levels. The list of relevant occupations would be identified on the basis of the national shortages occupations lists hence taking into account Member States’ national, and regional specific needs. Therefore, the preferred policy option would have a particularly positive impact on strategic sectors suffering from structural shortages such as the healthcare sector and sectors linked to the green and digital transition.

The voluntary approach would provide a tool facilitating international recruitment at disposal of interested Member States. This initiative does not aim at imposing any obligation on Member States nor orienting their talent attraction policies but rather offering additional support at EU level as this would not be achieved effectively by the Member States individually. 201 Hence, Member States would be able to maintain their tools in place and complement them with the new platform. The preferred option would be particularly beneficial for Member States suffering from the greatest labour and skills shortages and having a declining working age population.

In addition, the targeted nature of this initiative requiring a pre-screening of the candidates’ profiles, would allow to achieve the general objective to a greater extent. In particular, while contributing to addressing labour and skills shortages the preferred option would provide for quality profiles, therefore favouring quality of profiles over quantity. 202  

Making the EU Talent Pool the tool for job placements in the context of the Talent Partnerships would facilitate the implementation of this initiative and, hence, indirectly contribute to the overall migration management by incentivising cooperation with third countries on migration.

Overall the preferred PO would benefit employers and TCNs as it would make international recruitment faster, easier and more effective. Those benefits are mainly linked to time-savings across the various steps of the recruitment process. In addition, as cost savings for employers would result from the fact that the new platform would be free to use for business. A detailed description of the benefits for employers and TCNs is provided in Annexes 3 and 10.

While this PO would imply costs linked to the development and management of the platform both at EU and national level, re-using certain IT elements of EURES would allow higher saving in terms of resources. In addition, synergies with EURES would allow to build on the well- established expertise of this network on recruitment procedures.

The use of a legislative option would allow to include appropriate safeguards and ensure transparency and accountability on fundamental rights protection, in particular with regard to protection of personal data and the risk of exploitative working conditions. This is particularly important considering the specific risk of vulnerability when TCNs are concerned.

8.1 REFIT (simplification and improved efficiency)

The preferred option is not expected to result in any simplification of a regulatory burden.

8.2 One in, one out approach

The ‘one in, one out’ approach refers to the principle whereby each legislative proposal creating new burdens should relieve people and businesses of an equivalent existing burden at EU level in the same policy area. The preferred option is not expected have any new or removed administrative burden on businesses and citizens.

9.How will actual impacts be monitored and evaluated?

The actual impacts of the preferred option will be monitored and evaluated against the specific objectives. Indicators will be defined in the legislative act foreseen according to the preferred option. Data will be collected using a wide range of sources including already existing ones (e.g. Eurostat, Cedefop). Existing sources and databases would allow to monitor current trends in relation to the labour market situation and migration flows. A clear understanding of the actual labour market needs and TCNs workers would enable to efficiently adapt the EU Talent Pool over time (e.g. modifying the list of occupations of EU and national relevance). New data will be collected via the new IT platform as well as information provided by the National Contact Points (e.g. number of registered CVs and job vacancies, successful matches, etc). This would allow to monitor the effectiveness and success of the initiative in achieving the specific objectives.

The following table presents a series of headline indicators that could be used to measure the achievement of each of the objectives under the preferred option.

Table 6: Indicators to measure the achievement of the specific objectives

ANNEX 1
PROCEDURAL INFORMATION

1.    Identification of the lead DG:

DG Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) is the lead DG with DG for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) associated to the initiative.

2.    Organisation and timing

The New Pact on Migration and Asylum of 23 September 2020 203 committed to ‘further explore an EU Talent Pool for third-country skilled workers which could operate as an EU-wide platform for international recruitment’.

The Skills and Talent Package 204 launched in April 2022, sets out a new approach to legal migration aimed at attracting and retaining talent to foster growth and innovation. The Package includes a number of proposals to develop an ambitious and sustainable EU legal migration policy. As part of these proposals, the Commission announced the development of an EU Talent Pool.

The Commission launched the EU Talent Pool Pilot 205 in October 2022 to help integrate people fleeing Ukraine into the EU labour market. The EU Talent Pool will take into account the lessons learned from this Pilot.

The need to attract the right skills to the EU was also mentioned by President von der Leyen in her 2022 State of the Union 206  where the European Year of Skills 207 was announced as an opportunity to make Europe more attractive for skilled workers.

The EU Talent Pool will contribute to the European Year of Skills and will be a key component of the initiative included in the European Commission’s Package on talent mobility (Commission’s work programme for 2023 208 ).

The Call for evidence 209  providing an overview of the initiative and envisaged policy options was published on 16 of February 2023 and remained open for feedback until 16 March 2023 (a detailed assessment of the feedback received is provided in Annex 2).

The Impact Assessment report (IA report) is based on a number of studies and existing literature, reports and background research. A study from an external contractor was launched in March 2023 to inform the IA report.

In addition, extensive targeted consultations were conducted in the context of this initiative between March and June 2023.

Previous consultations were also taken into account in the preparation of the IA report.

In particular, the input collected during the Public consultation on legal migration carried out in 2020 was considered 210 . In addition, extensive consultations were conducted with relevant stakeholders in the context of the OECD feasibility study on the Talent Pool 211 , finalised in June 2022, and the preparatory work to the Skills and Talent Package.

The EU Talent Pool was also recently assessed in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the European Committee of the Regions (CoR)’s opinions on the Skills and Talent Package. 212 In addition, recommendations on the EU Talent Pool were included in the two resolutions on legal migration of the European Parliament 213 .

Inter-Service Steering Group

The Inter-service Steering Group (ISG) was set up by the Secretariat-General to assist in the preparation of the initiative as part of the wider Package on talent mobility. A specific subgroup on the EU Talent Pool was created. The representatives of the following Directorates-General participated in the ISG work: BUDG, CNECT, COMM, EAC, ECFIN, EEAS, EMPL, ESTAT, GROW, JUST, JRC, INTPA, MOVE, NEAR, REFORM, REGIO, RTD, SANTE, TRADE, SG and the Legal Service. The ISG met two times, on 18 January 2023 and 15 June 2023. Written consultations within the ISG were conducted three times (on the Inception and Final report of the external contractor as well as on the IA report).

The first ISG meeting of 18 January 2023 214 introduced the policy initiative and the expected timeline. A presentation of the Call for Evidence, Consultation Strategy and Terms of Reference was provided. The presentation highlighted the main problems and challenges identified as well as the corresponding objectives that the initiative aims to achieve.

The second ISG on 15 June 2023 215 meeting reported on the progress of the preparation of the abovementioned package, to be adopted in the context of the European Year of Skills. The interim report of the study feeding into the Impact Assessment was presented, followed by a tour de table to discuss the main comments. Participants were given the possibility to share written comments in a later stage.

In addition, the ISG participants were consulted five times:

-Following the ISG meeting of 18 January 2023, ISG representatives were invited to provide written comments on the Call for Evidence and Consultation Strategy, and the Terms of Reference for the study supporting the Impact Assessment;

-On 27 March 2023, the Inception Report submitted by the contractor was shared with the ISG representatives and they were invited to provide comments;

-On 5 June 2023, the Interim Report submitted by the external contractor was shared with ISG representatives and they were invited to provide written comments;

-On 4 August 2023, the ISG representatives were consulted in writing on the Final Report submitted by the external contractor;

-On 28 August 2023, the finalised IA report was shared to the ISG for written contributions prior submission to the RSB.

Bilateral meetings with other Commission services

Furthermore, DG HOME has held a number of bilateral meetings with several Commission services including with DG EMPL, LS, GROW, SG and SJ. As DG EMPL is associated to the initiative, recurrent bilateral meetings between DG HOME and DG EMPL were organised to ensure close cooperation in the preparation of the initiative.

On 5 May 2023, a joint meeting with HOME, SG, LS, EMPL, GROW, EAC and BUDG, was organised to discuss key aspects for the design of the initiative.

External meetings and consultations

The initiative touches upon different policy areas including, migration, employment and recognition of qualifications related aspects. Therefore, extensive consultations were conducted with a wide range of stakeholders and experts from different backgrounds. Meetings and ad-hoc consultations with EU institutions and agencies, international organisation, Member States, expert groups, high-level groups, think tanks, and civil society were organised. A full overview of the consultations conducted is available in Annex 2.

3.    Consultation of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board

On 8 September 2023, Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs submitted the draft Impact Assessment to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, which examined the draft Impact Assessment on 27 September 2023 The Board issued a positive opinion with reservations on 28 September 2023. The Board pointed to a number of elements of the impact assessment that should be addressed. The table below summarises the main recommendations for improvement, and how they have been addressed in this Impact Assessment report.