The World Employment Confederation-Europe (WEC-Europe), representing the European private employment services sector, in its Manifesto calls for the European Union and national labour market policies to focus on three elements:  

• Recovery - through transitions and skills policies;  
• Reform - to implement social innovation for agile and dynamic labour markets;  
• Resilience - through risk management, tackling unemployment risks and responsible intermediation. 

For each element, it identifies a number of key policy actions that will support the sustainable expansion of EU labour markets and get citizens back to work in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. It refers also to the European Union policies that can add value. 

Concerning the recovery, after providing data on GDP decrease across European Union countries and the reduction of operations of agency-work now gradually recovering, the Manifesto underlines how “the private employment services industry has been instrumental in supporting sectoral shifts and supporting organisations to respond to economic shocks caused by the pandemic. The demand for career management and outplacement services showcases the role of private employment services in fostering labour market transitions. Career management services rose by 10 percent in 2020 and an additional increase of 5 percent is expected for 2021”. People moving from one sector to another require support and the Manifesto calls for upskilling and reskilling people as “key lever of smooth transitions into new and high-in-demand sectors or roles, thus supporting economic and social recovery in Europe”. “National and European education and training policies should be put in place to respond to these challenges, fostering work-based learning, capitalising on the benefits of digitisation by investing in digital and greener skills and supporting workers to acquire the competences that are needed in the new economic environment”, through career guidance and agency work services. 

In this transitioning environment, the private employment services industry has a pivotal role to play, as already demonstrated in the early phases of the pandemic. 

“In supporting the transition to new economies, the European Commission and EU policymakers should make the promotion and valuing of diverse forms of work a condition of the EU funding available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The World Employment Confederation-Europe fully supports appropriate working conditions and social protections for diverse forms of work (including fixed-term contracts, part-time work, open-ended contracts and agency work), while regulation on diverse forms of work that is too burdensome or restrictive should be prevented”.  

On the second element, the reforms, the Manifesto focuses on the need for national policies to foster labour market reforms that “drive green and digital transitions and support employment creation linked to new technologies and the move towards a carbon neutral economy”. “Reforms must be guided by the principle of social innovation, fostering new solutions for working, learning and social protection to the benefits of workers, employers and society at large”: the private employment services industry drives social purpose and innovation. 

On this basis, the European Employment Strategy (up to 2030) is a good framework to foster reforms at the EU Member States level, with the objective of increasing labour market participation, investing in skills and fighting social exclusions. 

WEC-Europe encourages the European Union through its institutions to “promote the reform of national social protection and social welfare schemes fostering transferable and portable rights”.  

As for the resilience, “EU labour markets have so far shown a significant degree of resilience, mostly due to the extensive use of short-time working schemes by governments around across the EU. These were supported by the EU SURE initiative, as well as policies to secure the continuity of employment despite reduced labour demand during Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures”. In addition to the short-time working schemes and other similar initiatives, the European Commission has launched the “EU Recovery and Resilience facility” to provide the stimulus package required to foster economic and social recovery. The Manifesto says that “the European Commission should lay special focus on boosting employment, employability and related labour market reforms” and that “managing economic and labour market risks has to be a key component in the implementation of national recovery and resilience plans”. 

The private employment services industry is a key player in managing risks and challenges and this role is not new: “the private employment services industry can mitigate unemployment risks by enabling work, connecting individuals with new job opportunities, facilitating and accelerating transitions, and increasing job creation in a low-growth environment. It provides an important stepping-stone to the labour market and fulfils an essential labour market allocation role”.  

Another way to support resilience is to provide responsible and sustainable intermediation that contributes to better functioning labour markets. The private employment services industry has also a key role to play because it is able to ensure agility in the labour market with regards to the type of contract, working time and location.