EU countries’ employment policies: guidelines

SUMMARY OF:

Decision (EU) 2015/1848 — guidelines for employment policies in EU countries in 2015

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION?

It sets out European Union (EU) priorities and targets for national employment policies. They are part of the guidelines of the Europe 2020 growth strategy and support the aims of the European Semester of economic policy coordination.

KEY POINTS

New approach

• The employment guidelines are the second part of the integrated guidelines for implementing the Europe 2020 strategy. They work alongside the broad economic policy guidelines for EU countries and the EU which are set out in Council Recommendation (EU) 2015/1184.
• These integrated guidelines are based on a new approach to EU economic policymaking based on:
  • investment;
  • structural reform; and
  • establishing and maintening a balanced budget (fiscal responsibility).

Key areas

The decision sets out guidelines targeting four key areas:

• 1.

  Boosting demand for labour — focusing on job creation, labour taxation and wage-setting.

• 2.

  Enhancing labour supply, skills and competences — making structural improvements to education and training systems and tackling youth and long-term unemployment.

• 3.

  Making labour markets work better— ensuring high quality employment (e.g. education and training, work-life balance) and making it easier for workers to move between EU countries.

• 4.

  Fairness, combating poverty and promoting equal opportunities — e.g. providing affordable, accessible and high-quality services such as childcare, education, training and health services.

These guidelines form the basis for morespecific recommendations from the Council aimed at individual EU countries.

FROM WHEN DOES THE DECISION APPLY?

It has applied since 9 October 2015.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• ‘European employment strategy’ on the European Commission's website.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Decision (EU) 2015/1848 of 5 October 2015 on guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States for 2015 (OJ L 268, 15.10.2015, pp. 28–32)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Council Recommendation (EU) 2015/1184 of 14 July 2015 on broad guidelines for the economic policies of the Member States and of the European Union (OJ L 192, 18.7.2015, pp. 27–31)

last update 17.01.2017