Employment

Difficulties in access to the labour market on the other side of the border

The issue of employment is at the forefront among the European Union’s objectives for growth (Europe 2020 strategy). Within this framework, an ad hoc strategy for employment1  was launched in April 2012, consisting of targeted measures to boost job creation and restore the dynamics of labour markets. The Single Market Act II  proposes key measures and tools to facilitate the mobility of citizens.

Employment is included within the priority "Promoting employment and supporting labour mobility" for regulations for EU structural funds for the period 2014/2020.

However, although it is one of the priorities of EU policy, employment policy is primarily a responsibility of the Member states.2

There are several types of obstacles to the mobility of workers:

- With regard to social welfare protection, in a study carried out by the Grand Est Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESER) on cross-border obstacles published in 2017, the authors cite this type of obstacle, notably through examples of social security, welfare benefits and unemployment benefits. Border territories are thus places of friction between national policies. For example, EU legislation provides for the transfer of entitlements, in particular to social security, to the Member State in which the citizen is working, but coordination between different national systems can be particularly complex.

- The lack of integration within national policy of employment action plans for cross-border territories leads to a void in terms of legal framework, and thus limits the possibility of approaches being specially tailored to the needs of cross-border territories. The mobility of businesses and their employees is hampered by the impermeability of employment aid schemes, which are set up according to national objectives, despite being based upon a common European strategy. Applicants for employment aid face discrimination based on their national origin.

- The lack of clarity regardingthe equivalence of diplomas and professional qualifications acquired on both sides of the border represents a further obstacle to cross-border mobility of professionals.

- While a segmentation of actions across the different operators concerned is often observed, it is becoming evident that enhanced networking between socio-economic partners - and employment and trainingstakeholders - is the first step required to promote a specialised range of services and coordinate cross-border initiatives. Partnerships such as EURES network - the EU employment service offering information, recruitment and placement -  represent a response that is coherent to cross-border contexts and are adapted to the specificities of the territory. The reform3 of the network aims to consolidate its role of putting jobseekers and employers into contact with each other, and promoting the collaboration of actors involved in employment and training on the identification of sectors and occupations in demand. These actions can be coordinated within a cross-border job market catchment area according to local needs.

- For a jobseeker, access to information on the situation of the labour market and to the services of employment agencies on the other side of the border is often difficult. Structured cooperation between the information agents or the creation of common services allows a widening of the offering and makes a more efficient response to market needs possible.

Observation and statistics concerning cross-border employment is developing, at several levels. At EU level with the “Border Region Data Collection” project led by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), which aims to improve the collection of economic and social data on border zones in Europe through the implementation of a shared database for more systematic collection. Eight countries, by way of eight national statistics agencies, are participating in the project: Germany, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Pologne, and Slovenia. Cooperation on observation regarding employment issues has also developed at the regional level with the creation of statistics bodies like the Interregional Labour Market Observatory (IBA/OIE) for the Greater Region territory. A network of statistics agencies, the Observatory produces studies aimed at analysing the labour market of the Greater Region. Finally, this question has also been addressed at the national level, with the development of statistics bodies collecting this data.

GRAND EST IN FOCUS

With regard to obstacles linked to social welfare protection, the CESER Grand Est study makes the following recommendations:
- “Improving the dissemination of information toward administrations, businesses and individuals, so that the rules in force, general or particular, are known and applied.
- Affirming and defending the right to experimentation vis-à-vis the French government and within EU institutions, notably through the bureau of the ‘Grand Est’ association in Brussels.
- Participating in the evaluation of experiments carried out, with the involvement of the CESER.
- Participating in debates around the revision of the bilateral fiscal agreements.
- Participating in the Intergovernmental Conference (CIG).
- Using the successful examples of cross-border conventions to share good practice and thus harmonise the situation of border workers throughout the Grand Est region.
- Testing ‘border area economic development clusters’, zones with specific fiscal and social regimes, around economic clusters with a high leverage effect.”

Communication from the european commission to the council and the european parliament

“Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions”, September 2017

Furthermore, in a September 2017 communication, the European Commission highlighted issues relating to cross-border employment and the tools for responding to them. The EURES network figures among these, as well as tools such as the European Qualifications Framework which facilitates comparisons and thus mobility, the Europass framework (an ensemble of standardised documents for employment facilitated by Europass Centres in Europe), the European Professional Card, and the ESCO European classification system for skills, qualifications and occupations.

  1. The employment measures targeted: support for job creation, boosting the dynamics at play in labour markets, coordination of policies.
    Further information on the European employment strategy

  2. Under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty, social policy and cohesion are subject to a shared competence between the Union and the Member states; vocational training comes under the supporting competences of the Union;  "The Union shall take measures to coordinate employment policies of the Member States, in particular by defining guidelines for these policies " (Title I, Article 2D 2)

  3. Reform objectives: helping jobseekers to enter into contact more easily with employers looking for particular skills; increased targeting of sectors and occupations with skills shortages; supporting mobility programmes focused on young people.
    Further information on the European Commission Decision