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“WITH SUPPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION - VP/2008/010 BUDGET LINE 04-04-01-01. CHALLENGE VS/2008/0470, ADD. VS/2009/0448 SI2.512991”.
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“WITH SUPPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION - VP/2008/010 BUDGET LINE 04-04-01-01. CHALLENGE VS/2008/0470, ADD. VS/2009/0448 SI2.512991”.
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Labour Market Governance and Welfare System: creating jobs at the local level: Local Employment Development
The European Commission is promoting the establishment of holistic, integrative local employment development (LED)
strategies. A very important aspect of LED is that it should be multi-stakeholder, encouraging committed local partnerships that
identify with the localities they operate in. The Commission looks for good understanding and dialogue, combined with a
commitment to management excellence that will bring out the best in citizens in local communities.
Local Employment Development (LED) is understood as (a set of) actions aiming at improving the local economy and the local
labour market.
This may, for example, refer to activities to decrease unemployment by increasing the attractiveness of the local area as a
business location, to improve the quality of jobs/ working conditions, to reduce inequality, e.g. due to gender, age,
ethnicity/culture, to foster labour market integration etc.
It entails a process that is designed and implemented with the involvement of manifold local actors and takes into account the
needs and potential of a particular locality.
Local Employment Development (LED) as an ‘instrument’ to combat unemployment has been recognised by the European
Commission and other European institutions in the early 1980s and since then has been continuously gaining importance
(European Commission, 2007b). Since about 2000, particular attention is paid to the strategy of subsidiarity. The European
Union, the Member States, the regional and local levels as well as social partners and the civil society should, therefore, be
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involved in economic, employment and social policies by taking advantage of multi-stakeholder partnerships (European
Commission, 2000).
Local employment development has been addressed through various European programmes, such as the European Structural
Funds (in the framework of which particularly the former Community Initiative EQUAL is to be highlighted), the URBAN and
LEADER Community Initiatives or the INTERREG programme.
In line with the European Union’s objectives and initiatives, also the individual Member States (as well as Australia and Canada)
have been attributing increasing attention to the local level and LED policies during the last years or even decade, resulting in a
decentralisation process in terms of a transfer of competences and more autonomy to local authorities.
Local initiatives are nonetheless strongly embedded in national policies which, in turn, are oriented on the EU guidelines (mainly
the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs and European Employment Strategy) an often funded by European financial means. Only
in few countries (e.g. Hungary, Luxembourg) LED does not yet constitute an established policy field.
The major motivation for this approach is the recognition of the fact that there exist considerable differences among
regions/provinces resulting in specific and varying problems. These should be tackled by those that are most familiar with them
- hence, local actors. Consequently, an increasing tendency of combining top-down (i.e. strategies set at central level but
operative employment promotion locally through Public Employment Services) and bottom-up initiatives e.g. activities driven by
local NGOs approaching local authorities and/or companies to attract funding, co-operation or support) can be observed across
Europe, Australia and Canada. A multi-stakeholder approach is followed in LED in all Member States, Australia and Canada.
There is also a shift in governance mechanisms, envisaging a ‘sharing of power’ and ‘division of labour’ in the policy-making
process. This is to be achieved by stronger interaction among regional/local governments and the civil society as well as the
participation of other relevant stakeholders (including companies).
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The analysis of the local employment development policies throughout Europe has shown that although there is a tendency for
decentralisation it is rather a top-down than a bottom-up process that is applied. However, as local areas are very
heterogeneous the European Commission as well as national governments should pay more attention to the local level by putting
more emphasis on the concept of New Governance and the respective empowerment of local actors to become operationally
involved.
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PROGRESS Community programme for employment and social solidarity
Call for proposals VP/2008/010 BUDGET LINE 04-04-01-01 PROJECTS ON LOCAL EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT (LED)
The European Commission, DG Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, with the notification of the 11^th of
November 2008, approved the Progress project proposal “Challenge”.
The project was submited under the call for proposals VP/2008/010, BUDGET LINE 04-04-01-01 PROJECTS ON LOCAL
EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT (LED, priority "to facilitate knowledge acquisition and transfer in the implication for local
development of the emerging issues of inclusion, migrants, ethnic minorities, demographic change, and/or youth").
The projec aims to promote the comparison and the exchange of experiences and of competences, in relation to social
protection and inclusion labour policies. The project shall support the exchange of good practices in the field of the local
initiatives for the employment development: strategic tools for the promotion of labour active policies able to enhance the local
communities potentialities, adopting shared development strategies including the various welfare dimensions.
The principal goal is in fact "to elaborate innovative locally-generated employment strategies (LDEI - Local Development
Employment Initiatives), able to develope a co-ordinate approach of social inclusion for disadvantaged people", through the
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constitution of qualified multilevel partnership in a position to assure the elaboration of local development strategies, integrating
the various levels of governance; the analysis the strategies of inclusion, and the definition of possible integrations with the
labour active policies at regional, national and European level; the development of local social networks, in order to share
knowledge and experiences among experts in in the field, to elaborate common innovative methodologies, models and tools to
manage negotiated programming paths.
Expected results are the activation of stable local planning boards and therefore the elaboration of innovative labour and social
inclusion models.
Challenge is supported by the European Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (2007-2013) - PROGRESS.
This programme is managed by the Directorate-General for Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities of the European
Commission.
This programme was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the
employment and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Lisbon
Strategy goals in these fields. The seven-year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of
appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-27, EFTA-EEA and EU candidate and pre-
candidate countries.
PROGRESS mission is to strengthen the EU contribution in support of Member States' commitments and efforts to create more
and better jobs and to build a more cohesive society.
To that effect, PROGRESS will be instrumental in: providing analysis and policy advice on PROGRESS policy areas; monitoring and
reporting on the implementation of EU legislation and policies in PROGRESS policy areas; promoting policy transfer, learning and
support among Member States on EU objectives and priorities; relaying the views of the stakeholders and society at large.
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For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/progress/index_en.html. The information contained in this
publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.
Objectives
General Objective
To elaborate innovative locally-generated employment strategies (LDEI - Local Development Employment Initiatives), able to
develope a co-ordinate approach of social inclusion for disadvantaged people.
Operative Objectives
To promote the constitution of qualified multilevel partnership in a position to assure the elaboration of local development
strategies, integrating the various levels of governance
To analyze the strategies of inclusion, defining possible integrations with the labour active policies at regional, national and
European level
To promote the development of local social networks, in order to share knowledge and experiences among experts in in the
field, to elaborate common innovative methodologies, models and tools to manage negotiated programming paths
To promote the activation of stable local planning boards. To elaborate innovative labour and social inclusion models
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Activities
Phase 1: Project coordination and governance
► Activation of the steering committees for the project management: Partners Assembly; Executive Board; Action Teams
Phase 2: Opportunities and threats Analisys for a new welfare model
► Analisys of the changes at a national level and within the local communities structure
► Analisys of the variables and determinant aspects behind the extreme forms of social and labour discrimination
► Interviews with local stakeholders, in order to point out the communities perceptions about estreme forms of social and
labour discrimation and the offer of social and labour inclusion tools and policies.
Phase 3: Good practices review
► Good practices peer review and comparative analisys
Phase 4: Awarness Raising
► Management of European Awarness Scenarium Workshop: 1 for each territorial context
Phase 5: Learning Laboratories
► ICT Based Community activation
► Visits and exchange experiences organization
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► One-week transnational laboratories for LED innovation (Transnational staff granting technical assistance to the various
territories): 1 for each territorial context
Phase 6: New governance systems
► Elaboration of an operative handbook for public and private operators
► Elaboration of a "green paper" in order to explicit the new vision in terms of policies and strategies
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The objective of this Green Paper is the sharing of best practices within the system of services for the greater and
better social inclusion of vulnerable people in the labour market and social network.
Social inclusion is a key objective for the purpose of ensuring equal opportunities for citizens to access to employment. Personal
Autonomy derives from a source work while increasing the degree of social cohesion and also reduce the demands for public
office for maintenance checks, in itself barren for individual growth and burdensome for state coffers.
This objective is more difficult now because Europe is fully invested in the economic crisis.
The present work is the result of a transnational approach, which involved four european countries: Italy and Spain on the one
hand, and Cyprus and Bulgaria on the other who are working to make their systems for advanced services.
The operating modes, first and foremost, is that of 'seeding' at European level what is already operational and effective in some
Member States, based on a stable regulatory framework to which they refer to the application methods.
The regulatory framework which frames the current policies of social inclusion
This Green Paper sets out the partners involved and, for each, the current situation in context of best practices for social
inclusion and of current development projects.
It intends:
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► to identify key challenges which have not yet found a satisfactory answer and that are a reflection of a clear separation
between the legal and social conditions prevailing on the one hand, and the realities of working on the other. The problem
concerns the type of hardship presented and the resources put in place by each country
► to involve the governments of member States, the local authority and private social (the Third Sector) in an open debate on
how best practices for social inclusion may help to improve social cohesion
► to stimulate discussion on ways in which different types of activities for inclusion along with the rules governing the right
to work could help create new jobs and employability of a large segment of the population
► to contribute to the objective of the “Better Regulation” by promoting the modernization of social policy without forgetting
the current scenario of economic difficulty for businesses and citizens.
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The International and National crisis in the economy and employment is having an influence on the Veneto region
with worrying dimensions.
However, this commits us to analyze the activities, tools and initiatives of active policies for work experienced in previous years,
because most of them were put in place to deal with a disadvantaged business that this long and difficult structural dimension is
likely to put in the further trouble.
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The many experiments conducted in the Veneto region between 2000 and 2009, both relating to the program EQUAL and
otherwise, took inspiration from several critical issues in processes of job placement.
Many are the interviews to influential actors of these processes, internal and external to the projects mentioned, which have set
out these conditions and the problems to be solved
The following paragraph is on the perspective of updating the positions and to maintain constructive debate initiated in recent
years and focused innovation practices, in light of best practices collected over the past years. A commitment that gives account
of several products developed and guidelines drawn.
These courses are sometimes left open questions on the application of trials with the extension of the tools used and tested as
well as on the improvement of networks of technical and political/institutional support.
Although they have been achieved advanced levels of study, analysis and experimentation are still open development paths that
need to complete to give shape to the intentions in a structured way.
► outstanding issues affecting:
► personalization of interventions;
► use organic, complete and articulated of territorial resources available;
► expressed in the completeness of commitment and awareness of individual responsibilities;
► responsibility of networks in efficient and inexpensive paths maintaining the perfect balance of experimentation and
structural.
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“Personalization”: a clue for defining the new mission of integrated
services.
The acquisitions of institutional experimentation with European projects indicate that: “The integration between actors related to
systems traditionally do not dialoguing and enhancement of the operators have contributed to experiment with customized and
integrated pathways with promising implications in terms of employment
Particularly welcome are those solutions of type 'ONESTOP-shop' which satisfy all the needs of disadvantaged. Compared to
integration, are proving effective those paths of 'taking charge' which satisfy both the basic needs of the user (work, housing,
health, childcare, etc..), that the needs of re-motivation and professionalism (information, motivational counseling, employement
services).
Compared to the personalization, the most successful paths are those that have adopted an individualized and flexible approach
to users.
The empowermwnt and the direct involvement of beneficiaries in the design of routes is a further determining element as these
methods are able to activate pro-active behaviors in the user.”
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TRIALS AND GUIDELINES
The compared experiences represent a different organization of skills on job placement of disadvantaged people; there is still a
common interest in the enhancement of existing good practices in all countries of the partners. On this basis we identify some
general guidelines:
a general need for a more proactive role of local institutions particularly through:
◦ the use of study centers, including universities, to support innovative initiatives
◦ recognition of the full potential of intervention on the work of local authorities (municipal and provincial)
◦ the permanent governance of experiences, including experimental ones
◦ promotion and communication of good practices
◦ support the cultural exchange as a widespread tool of cultural growth of operators and of benefit on operation
the need to synergistic, economic and coordinated use of all available resources between social policies (economic welfare,
housing, education and training....) and labor policies (ALMP and not) in cases of work-work, school-work and inactivity-
work transition.
a common interest to delineate the structures of companies / social cooperatives that support government intervention
while maintaining the autonomy necessary to flexible management in line with the demands and complexities of the target
assigned and contingency to be addressed.
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Emphasizing the bottom-up vision, we analyze the "personalization" through the support tools at job that ensure
linkage to the questions they leave open.New figures: job coach and case manager
Under the Equal projects, in addition to traditional roles of public and private services operators, are emerging new figures,
particularly the job coach as a guide when entering work, and the case manager that is the facilitator of the use of network
services
Once completed the trial as it will be possible to support and coordinate efficiently the services performed by such figures in the
area? There is a shared determination to define the precise characteristics, powers, duties, responsibilities of these new jobs?
What will be the opportunity to plan innovative training specialization? What will be the interest to encourage the system to adopt
such methodologies / professional figures?
Operator training
The experiments showed the need to create a common methodological basis (language and procedures) for all players in order
to improve customer service and optimize the resources available. An indication of this is the introduction of mandatory training
for operators. Training of operators will be supported in coming years? What other ways are to be taken to improve the service
offered by operators?
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Sensitization of entrepreneurs
Research has shown how easily employers do not participate in meetings (seminars, conferences, etc..) aimed at raising
awareness and dissemination of initiatives for work integration for disadvantaged people. What arrangements can be activated to
better involve employers, letting them know in addition to the concern related to the theme also possible solutions to resolve?
Stable networks of services
The experiment allowed to enable efficient service networks, with their communication tools. We need to identify ways in which
to make at least as stable and efficient the network of communication between all entities involved in job placement. How to
ensure that efficiency beyond the requirements and procedures applicable to the projects? How to encourage the sharing of
problems and the synergy of resources available in the spirit of responding to needs rather than for other motives? What actions
to take to stimulate the establishment of formal agreements between public and private, so that the specific activities of each
institution are conducted not in competition with others, but in collaboration and sharing of resources, procedures and results?
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How to find the application of tools in the trials conducted in Veneto
referring to fields often compared still open
The initiatives implemented under Equal Veneto II Fase5 are united by the common goal of increasing employability and,
therefore, social inclusion and employment of disadvantaged persons. Beyond the specifics of each project, you can identify the
joint actions, such as:,
► adaptation and development of a stable network of services for job placement;
► 'taking charge’ of disadvantaged by the network;
► development of customized and innovative courses designed to increasing the autonomy of the disadvantaged and
including guidance, training and job-support;
► experimentation with forms of targeted employment, in order to find appropriate placement of disadvantaged people
(including disabled people);
► accompaniment by the company in the process of social inclusion of disadvantaged people;
► development within the contexts of production of a culture of social inclusion and employment for disadvantaged people
by raising awareness among employees and partners to make work processes more inclusive for people with handicap;
► sharing of tools for the design and management of work integration and social inclusion.
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For the purposes of improving customer service are key integration and synergy of public and private. During the experiments,
according to the specific objectives of each project, have developed models that seek to facilitate work integration of
disadvantaged people, including activities specific to the actors of the network and delineate how they interact, even at the end
to optimize resources and make efficient service, while ensuring flexibility for adaptation and customization.
Were involved Provincial Administrations and Employment Centers, ULSS, social cooperatives, training institutions and research
centers, universities, employers associations, and service companies. More specifically, one can identify some elements of trials
that deserve special attention for their innovativeness and which are summarized below.
Introduction to the methodology of case management
In more than a Venetian experience was introduced the methodology of case management in cases of work integration of
disadvantaged persons.
The methodology of case management, borrowed from the Anglo-Saxon world, is particularly suitable for handling complex
cases for which it is impossible to apply standard or practice that is already modeled. It enables to achieve positive results in
terms of appropriateness of services provided, efficiency of operations, better coordination of resources and ensures appropriate
care to the person receiving the services they need through participative, effective and to optimize resource allocation.
The case manager is assigned a series of tasks:
► take responsibility for this result to be achieved;
► manage and coordinate the complex processes that require interventions of different kinds with the help of various
professionals;
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► get the network up and activities to build and maintain the necessary links between the nodes of the network to enable the
completion of the insertion path;
► manage personalized pathways that involve relationships face to face.
The case manager works within a group of more professionals that feeds the skills that he must deliver individualized during the
accompaniment. Is therefore important that the links with the group remain throughout the entire route.
Introduction and training of the job coach and tutor
Next to the case managers were introduced two additional figures to support the inclusion process: the job coach and business
mentor, for which specific training courses have been designed to adapt their skills for the discharge of their duties. The subjects
dealt with organizational content for the first and management integration for the latter, according to criteria of customization,
organizational flexibility and specificity of context.
Development of training on the job
The courses aimed at disadvantaged people are designed to enhance their professional skills and social skills, adapted to the
actual demands of the workplace. It was organized a prior training on the job to help the inclusion in the company and
knowledge of the work context. This action helps to overcome the limitations of "traditional" training through individual
pathways with easy (maximum 60 hours per subject) and flexible modes of delivery. This training is structured on the basis of
specific characteristics of the production context and assign a specific role of the tutor training company, recognizing the
company a refund for the lost productivity related to the delivery of the training.
The value generated has very innovative cultural reflexes that allow the recognition of the company as a place and resource not
only substantial but also formal for training. The developments are found today in internal assisted training during the recent
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apprenticeship and coded by regional standards. This was achieved thanks to strict management and monitoring system required
by the European project applied in the Region.
Creation of a provincial system and a management service to the network
In order to make efficient and effective integration between all the actors in the network, both public and private, operating in
the area, was born a special office, managed by the Provincial Labor Service Policies. It is the only reference point of the network
to route the call for assistance and information services for disadvantaged people to the most suitable and competent operators
available to handle the case and to monitor the progress and success of the process of job placement .
Services can draw on appropriate management platforms:
1. tool specifically designed and aimed to foster communication and interaction among individuals who are involved in
entering employment for disadvantaged people. Available on the web, it is intended for case managers who are required to
record all actions taken to promote the integration and to report critical issues and / or requests for support by other
actors in the network in possession of specific skills. In this way the management platform acts as a database in which are
stored on activities to the beneficiaries, it facilitates interaction and communication between partners of the network,
allows to verify the effectiveness of the entry template used for easy identification of appropriate changes.
2. tool for planning and management of economic resources (business facilitation and support to the person in the paths of
integration such as vouchers, scholarships, internships, etc.).
This report links the evolution of Italian regulations to the agreement between passive and active policies for the work that
especially in the last period of 2009 was driven by changes in employment conditions and the use of unique resources to support
the income of workers who have lost their jobs or are at risk of losing it.
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Instruments in the expression of mutual responsibilities
In the relationship of integration between public and private, regulatory development eads to the establishment of arrangements
in which economy, efficiency, integrity and transparency of the activities are reference values that pass through the enhancement
of awareness and parity between them. The contractual instruments are in great development:
► Institutional arrangements for the establishment of structures for the networks (including through TERRITORIAL
AGREEMENT such as PAL);
► Partnership Agreements for the development of specific projects;
► Service Agreements for the definition of services provided;
► Individual plans for the temporal organization of commitments;
► Agreements for access to facilities and additional economic measures, including wage.
The rules of connection between the activities of the public until the last step of the relationship with the person lead to a
dynamic of responsibility that opens up new perspectives and raises questions of ever more efficient governance.
In relations with users seeking workforce, advising and definition of subsidized routes also refer to strategy plans for financial
assistance to SMEs.
In relations with users providing their work with the Legislative Decree 181, have introduced legislation then divided into regional
definitions.
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In essence, we introduce the agreement of service as a "management tool" adopted by the employment services as measures of
active employment policy (Article 1, paragraph 31, d).
The statement aims to develop an innovative "management tool" in the relations established between the "competent authorities"
and their clients.
The regional rules define guidelines for implementing, managing and penalties that bring the tool in the axis of innovation: for
the first time in Italy is encouraged "active participation in programs of job placement".
Therefore, the introduction of the Agreement is explicitly framed in the need to orient the future system, and particularly the
instruments of income support, the principles of welfare to work, to - again quoting verbatim the text of the Protocol - " give
effect to the loss of protection in the event of unjustified non-participation in rehabilitation programs for work or non-
acceptance of adequate job opportunities".
The activation and empower the beneficiaries of social benefits are at the heart of a vast scientific and political debate, first in
the countries of the Anglo-Saxon and later in the European continent, which have since the eighties initiated reforms of their
social protection systems. But as we saw, in the integrity and completeness of responses, we configure a complex accountability
system that does not limit the vision into a tendency to recognize the benefits only at fulfilling certain obligations. Not valid here
the criticism that 'social citizenship changes from status to contract’ raised by several commentators critical of the contractual
relationship.
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1. Personalization of interventions
Personalization of interventions in the active policy is already active in the regulations and practices, although it is often more
apparent than real. This refers to the ability to use all the tools (and as flexibly as possible) from the personal circumstances of
the individual subject. This applies particularly to the weaker sectors of the population. For this reason, special attention should
be payed in the preparation of not rigid, open flexible claims, and in the definition of the instruments, subjects, times and
modalities of intervention.
2. Empowerment of the local level in identifying the target of
interventions
Regulation No. 800/2008 (EC) updates the definition of disadvantaged people, by introducing a further definition regarding the
“very disadvantaged" subjects.
It should be noted that the emphasis is mainly on "objective" aspects, such as age or prolonged absence from work.
It is necessary to identify a dimension of disadvantage which refers to the sphere of "subjective" and that is not tied solely to the
condition of disability.
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In the objective situation is the labor market that creates barriers for enmployment (a person with more than 50 years can be a
very good worker but companies do not want to invest in him).
Other people have also problems of personal, family and social hardship, that are added to the condition of unemployment and
to the difficulty of finding work.
In the legislation of the Veneto Region (L.R. 23/2006), regarding the definition of 'weak' subjects, also appears the accountability
of social services of municipalities in the identification of people with discomfort.
This is therefore to delegate to local level, because it has direct knowledge of the subjects, some of the responsibility of choice.
The NUTS 3 level is still not sufficient in this sense.
3. Simplifying access to services
The services offered to citizens seeking employment are growing, and often are not coordinated. The citizen remains "mystified"
when faced with the proposals for "guidance"!
Besides the need for coordination and network of services, there is the problem of "simplified" access. From the point of view of
the user, and especially of the disadvantagede people, we must identify a "one stop shop".
“WITH SUPPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION - VP/2008/010 BUDGET LINE 04-04-01-01. CHALLENGE VS/2008/0470, ADD. VS/2009/0448 SI2.512991”.
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4. Labor policies should take into account the objectives of the
economy growth
The active employment policies aimed at strengthening the capacities of individuals, enabling them to enter with greater chances
to work.
However, if the total number of available jobs remains unchanged, these policies are reduced to encourage someone to the
detriment of others.
Beyond the more general economic policies of member states, pointing to the growth and development of enterprises, the focus
must be placed on a specific theme: active employment policies should be coordinated with the development of enterprises, or at
least take care not to obstruct this process.
In the context of the crisis of 2008, the instruments of reintegration in firms of expelled workers should be especially flexible
and should support the rehabilitation in time imposed by the market's recovery.
For example, workers were offered training and orientation projects with a duration that prevented the prompt return to business
when the market permitted it. Too rigid accompanying measures in defining the time and tools can be an obstacle to recovery.