Long term unemployment in Europe still represents one of the worst effects of the last economic crisis and about a half of current job seekers have been struggling to find a job for more than a year, Many Eurodiaconia members are daily engaged in helping persons experiencing long term unemployment in their way back to work. The users who approach these services present often diverse profiles, which require an individualised, person-centred approach ensuring that the interventions offered can be effective with each user. Many of the users served by our members face additional vulnerabilities to enter back the labour markets: very long periods of detachment from employment, disabilities, substance abuse, and physical or mental health issues demand additional time, resources and patience to guarantee the inclusion of such users. These additional vulnerabilities need to be addressed through a holistic approach.

Over the last months, Eurodiaconia has gathered good practices from its members working in services for work and social inclusion of long-term unemployed persons. The publication is now available and provides  insightful case studies on job market-integration from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

To learn more on long term unemployment, check out our publication on our members’ good practices (EN).

Eurodiaconia has also recently released a briefing updating members on recent policy initiatives at EU level on the long term unemployment (EN).

For more information about long-term unemployment and Eurodiaconia’s work on this topic, please contact Alex at alexander.elu@eurodiaconia.org.