2019 was a landmark year for the European PES Network, with five years of valuable PES collaboration recognised by a formal evaluation and a European Commission proposal to continue the Network until 2027.

It was also a year that saw Thematic Learning Dialogues used as a successful new format for exchange and learning, and the preparation of the exciting new PES Innovation Lab that will kick off in 2020.

Five years of successful collaboration

The PES Network evaluation confirmed that cooperation among PES has been highly successful, with PES Network members and stakeholders confirming the benefits and calling for its continuation.

Interested readers can discover some of the stories behind the network’s successes in the book “Public Employment Services. Policies and Practices”, published in September 2019.

Marianne Thyssen – former Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour mobility – declared: “The EU PES Network is a successful example of European collaboration at its best. I am convinced this EU cooperation and exchange of best practices and mutual learning will be all the more important in the future to tackle the challenges of the future of work.”

Innovative, new learning formats

2019 was yet another important year for PES transnational exchange and learning, through Working Groups, Review Workshops, Mutual Assistance Projects and innovative Thematic Learning Dialogues, in which PES with outstanding experience in a specific field share their learning with others.

“Having completed two cycles of the Benchmarking assessments by the end of 2018, 2019 was dedicated to learning from each other and putting recommendations into practice,” as Johannes Kopf, the newly elected PES Network Chair, explains in the Annual Report.

Exchange and learning among Europe’s PES in 2019 focused on the future of work and digitalisation, as well as major challenges in PES service delivery and performance management. Specific topics included skills shortages, co-creation of services, key performance indicators (KPIs), evidence-based services, client profiling and the use of Artificial Intelligence.

The 2019 Stakeholders Conference brought together more than 130 PES stakeholders to discuss trends and practices in how to improve unemployment prevention.

Looking ahead to 2020

Looking ahead, the Annual Work Programme for 2020 includes the return of study visits and the new pilot European-level Innovation Lab "EU PES Lab" that emerged as the recommendation of a 2019 PES Network Working Group.

The EU PES Lab expects to foster innovation, co-creation and test new approaches to untackled labour market challenges. It can contribute actively to network priority topics for 2020 such as the future of work and digitalisation, the green economy and new forms of work.

Stay up-to-date with these and other activities in 2020 by checking the PES Network webpages. Make it even easier to keep in touch by signing up for the PES Network newsletter.