This Commission staff working document consists of the executive summary of the evaluation accompanying the report on the proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 573/2014/EU on enhanced cooperation between Public Employment Services (PES).
The summary outlines the main findings of the evaluation of the Network of European Public Employment Services. The evaluation assesses the state of play and degree of implementation of the Decision establishing the Network and evaluates whether the Network has fulfilled its legal obligations and achieved its objectives. It also draws conclusions and provides for lessons learnt which can shed light on possible future cooperation between European public employment services (PES) post-2020.
The timeframe for the evaluation covers the period from June 2014 until July 2018, while some of the evaluation sources (such as the 2018 annual report) cover a full calendar year.
Assessment activities included consultation (public consultation, targeted consultations, evaluation workshop, case studies), along with desk research and an external study. Targeted stakeholders included representatives from the 32 PES involved in the Network, relevant EU-level organisations and bodies (such as EMCO, EU-level private employment services and temporary work agencies, the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network), relevant international organisations (such as the ILO, OECD, the World Bank, the World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES)), the PES Secretariat, contractors, former members of the PES Network or those involved with PES cooperation before 2014.
Main findings
- The evaluation covers the five criteria set out by the Better Regulation requirements, namely relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value.
- The Decision remains highly relevant for PES.
- The Networks objectives and initiatives encompass the key areas of PES responsibility and provide a robust framework for the policy and concrete activities of the Network. These objectives enable a flexible approach to addressing priorities for action related to labour market developments.
- The Network has proven that it is an effective vehicle to support national PES in the individual challenges they face and to foster European cooperation.
- The willingness of PES to participate in bench learning and mutual learning, as well as positive feedback from PES demonstrate that the Network outputs are highly efficient.
- There is a good degree of coherence between the Decision and the EU policy framework (for instance with concrete policy initiatives, such as the recommendations on the Youth Guarantee and the integration of long-term unemployed in the labour market).
- The Network has demonstrated flexibility to target new topics, such as the integration of migrants and refugees, the prevention of unemployment and skills shortages.
- It supports national PES in the implementation of country-specific recommendations addressed to Member States in the context of the European Semester on active labour market policies and PES issues.
- The Decision has been successfully implemented and some lessons learnt could be identified.
Further improvements
As potentials to further improve efficiency, the evaluation identifies some areas, such as focusing on smaller and more targeted learning events and the potential for further use of digital solutions.
The evaluation also demonstrates that financial, organisational and expert support from the EU level is essential to ensure the continuous participation of all PES.