Let’s end involuntary unemployment!

The survey closed on Friday 19 May 2023. 

Through this survey, we wanted to collect citizens’ opinions on long-term unemployment and the potential for an EU-wide permanent programme for direct, guaranteed public service employment. What’s the best way to fight unemployment? How to get decent work and transform our economy into a more sustainable society?

FEPS launched this survey on the perception of unemployment and publicly funded jobs in collaboration with Our Global Moment, Pietro Nenni Foundation and other grassroots and progressive organisations across Europe.

The survey was accessible in 9 languages: German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, English, French, Dutch, Greek and Portuguese.

Thank you for participating in this project and sharing it with your network!

We did this survey because we were exploring ways to bring innovation in public sector-led job creation, particularly in those cases in which there is a clear marker failure: green jobs, care services, youth, rural or transition regions.

Initiatives such as the “Territoires Zéro Chomeurs de Longue Durée” in France and the Marienthal job guarantee pilot in Austria can maybe serve as a basis to inspire similar European initiatives and design job guarantee-like programmes that create quality jobs for unemployed persons in those sectors where it matters the most.

Bottom line, we were looking for policy innovation that tackles the economic insecurity and instability emerging from EU labour markets while helping address the global climate crisis and delivering on the just transition.

We have started to explore the matter with Pavlina Tcherneva and Aurore Lalucq with the policy brief “A Job Guarantee for Europe: Economic policy innovation for Stability, Security And Sustainability” and, thanks to the inputs of several political and civil society stakeholders, we are developing ideas around the creation of a EU initiative for zero unemployment territories, which, in line with European multilevel governance principles, could facilitate the emergence of local, regional or national initiatives such as the ones led in France and Austria. A good initial discussion on this can be found in our Employment breakfast meeting: The employment we want on zero unemployment territories.

Things are moving! Measures such as the job guarantee and zero long-term unemployment zones made it to the Manifesto of the Party of European Socialists, new tests are being conceived in Wallonia and Rome, and the EU Committee of the Region just issued a draft own-initiative report on Zero long-term unemployment: the local and regional perspective led by Yonnec Polet.

What would such an EU initiative look like?

How can the EU link job creation and job quality?

Which are the best actors to implement job-guarantee programs at the local level?

Many questions still remain unanswered. But with your help, we can put forward solid policy solutions. More actions will follow, so stay tuned!

Discover the survey findings and in-depth analysis here.

The survey closed on Friday 19 May 2023.

For more information, please contact euleane.omez@feps-europe.eu