The Commission’s evaluations and impact assessments of policies and funds in the area of employment, social affairs and inclusion follow Better regulation principles and guidelines.

All planned and ongoing evaluations and impact assessments in this policy area can be found on the Commission’s Have Your Say website. All finalised evaluations and impact assessments in the area of employment, social affairs and inclusion since 2014 are available below under "related documents".

Our department also handles some evaluations and impact assessments in education and training.

Better regulation guidelines require the assessment of employment and social impact of policies and funds, among other things. It is important to ensure that the impact on employment and working conditions, social protection and inclusion, skills and occupational health and safety is properly assessed.

Representatives of management and labour – social partners – have a particular role in the impact assessment process:

• They are consulted on any new social European initiative related to social policy legislation via a compulsory two-stage consultation procedure.
• A proportionate impact assessment may be carried out by the Commission when social partners propose the implementation of social partners' agreements and their impacts are likely to be significant. These EU-level agreements are concluded between social partners and related to social policy legislation.
• Sectoral social dialogue committees are consulted on developments at the EU level that have social implications.

Studies ordered by the European Commission supporting evaluations and impact assessments in the field of employment, social affairs and inclusion are available on this website through the publications catalogue.

The Commission also provides guidance and support to Member States on the monitoring and evaluation of the European Social Fund (ESF) and of the European Fund for the Most Deprived (FEAD). This ensures that data are consistent and comparable, and helps Member States to deliver quality analysis, monitoring data and evaluations.