PES Network adopts 7 recommendations to guide employment services assisting refugees and persons displaced from Ukraine
Considerations highlight areas of particular importance for the labour market integration of refugees and displaced people related to language, skills and qualifications, partners and institutions, and employers.
During its last Board meeting held in Stockholm on 8-9 June, 2023, the European Network of Public Employment Services adopted common guidelines for PES supporting the labour market integration of displaced people and refugees. They put forward seven ‘key considerations’ and examples of PES practices in the following areas:
- Enhanced guidance: Providing accessible, up-to-date information for refugees and displaced people on how to enter the labour market
- Facilitating digital job matching: Facilitating online vacancy, CV portals and job matching directly between employers, refugees and displaced people
- Tailored language training: Tailoring language training to personal situations, skills and qualifications to increase job opportunities
- Recognising skills and qualifications: Improving the process for assessing, recognising and validating qualifications and skills required to secure work opportunities corresponding to qualifications and experiences of refugees and displaced people
- Sustainable inclusion: Balancing short and long-term perspectives of fast entry into the labour market and creating a more sustainable integration process to ensure skills are used efficiently
- Systematic collaboration: Brokering collaboration and information sharing as well as systematic involvement between authorities and civil society, closing service gaps to make it easier for refugees and displaced people to integrate into work and society
- Working directly with employers: Close collaboration between PES and employers is crucial to the successful integration of refugees into the labour market
The guidelines incorporate lessons learned from previous experiences in the PES Network, in a context where the overall number of displaced people from Ukraine in employment keeps increasing and PES have a major role to play to support their integration (see below).
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Support to persons displaced from Ukraine: results from latest PES Network Survey PES are one of the main actors to integrate displaced people from Ukraine in the labour market. To facilitate sharing of information and experience, the PES Network is regularly collecting information from PES. Increased employment in almost all reporting countries Figures reported by 19 PES indicate that around 1 523 000 people displaced from Ukraine were in employment in these countries in April 2023. This figure should include mainly people with Temporary Protection status[1].It is important to note that the figures reported by some countries may include both Ukrainian citizens with and without temporary protection. For instance, Poland reported 1,157,000 employed individuals from Ukraine in April, and it is not possible to separate the number of employed individuals with Temporary Protection status (TPD). Stable number of registered displaced people from Ukraine at PES In the April survey, on an aggregated level, the number of persons registered at PES amounts to almost 344 000 registrations (at the 28 PES that have reported on this question). More than 50 per cent of these registrations are reported from Germany. Overall, PES reported about 10 000 fewer registered unemployed persons displaced from Ukraine compared to the questionnaire in February suggesting that most displaced persons looking for a job have in the meantime registered with the PES and presumably reflecting the increased transition into employment Figure 1. People displaced from Ukraine registered at PES.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL, PES Network questionnaire to PES. |
Read the full key considerations paper to learn about strategies for successful integration and a diverse workforce with displaced people and refugees.
Additional reading:
Earlier this month, Special Adviser for Ukraine Lodewijk Asscher presented the outcomes of his mission. Find out more here: EU Commissioners discuss the progress of the integration of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion - European Commission (europa.eu)
[1] The figures reported by some countries may include both Ukrainian citizens with and without temporary protection (for instance Poland has reported 1 157 000 people from Ukraine in employment in April, and it is not possible to separate the number of employed with TPD).