Active labour market policies - a BusinessEurope position paper

Key messages

The efficiency and effectiveness of active labour market policies (ALMPs) needs to be improved. More money alone will not result in higher labour market integration rates. Therefore, public employment services (PES) and unemployment benefit systems should be reformed, where necessary. Cooperation between PES and private employment services needs to be strengthened and stronger involvement of social partners harnessed, where appropriate.
Mutual learning between PES and benchmarking can play an important role in improving the performance and cost-effectiveness of ALMPs and in identifying how best to reform them to this effect.
Central to effective and sustainable integration measures is the need to better take into account employers’ needs, notably in terms of skills, when designing and providing support measures as well as in evaluating and improving them.

The labour market integration of job seekers through policies that support employability and address companies’ skills needs through efficient, effective and integrated support measures. This also requires better coordination between employment policies and education and training policies.
Greater emphasis on the role of ALMPs, complementary to passive labour market policies, in terms of the role that they can play in facilitating transitions between jobs, sectors and geographically. Together with the better matching of people with available work opportunities these issues are crucial for creating an enabling environment for companies and workers.