Three years on: report shows success of enhanced collaboration between Public Employment Services

Today, the Commission published a report on the European Network of Public Employment Services (PES), set up three years ago.

It shows that thanks to this Network, European Public Employment Services are working closer and more systematically together, to the benefit of jobseekers and employers across Europe.

The Network allows Public Employment Services to

• collaborate,.
• share good practice,.
• participate in learning events to constantly improve and provide a better and more effective service for jobseekers across Europe.

This enhanced collaboration does not only benefit the more than 27 million people registered with a public employment service in their country,  but it also contributes to facilitating intra-EU mobility, through the public employment services' participation in the EURES network.

Public employment services at local, regional and central level notably provide guidance, assistance and support services to individual workers, also to those interested in finding a job in another EU country. For instance, in 2016, about 27.000 people found a job abroad with the help of a EURES adviser.

The Network also gives a common voice to European Public Employment Services to respond to emerging challenges such as the refugee crisis.

A particularly innovative element of this cooperation is the Benchlearning project, allowing employment services to compare their practices on the basis of indicators and learn from each other.

In addition, the unique PES Knowledge Centre provides a wealth of information on the organisation of Public Employment Services in Europe and the services they offer, and many of these outputs have a wider benefit for researchers and decision-makers in the fight against unemployment.