Each year, the Joint Employment Report (JER) by the European Commission and the European Council monitors the employment situation and the implementation of employment guidelines in the EU, providing an annual overview of key employment and social developments and Member State’s policy measures. It also identifies related key priority areas for policy action.
This year’s JER, adopted by the European Council on March 13, 2023, focuses strongly on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, especially in the areas of equal opportunities and access to the labour market, fair working conditions and social protection and inclusion. It integrates the 2030 EU headline targets on employment, skills, and poverty reduction and, for the first time, the report also covers the national targets put forward by the Member States, as presented in the June 2022 Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council. Moreover, it incorporates the objectives of the Union of Equality strategies and covers the challenges faced by groups affected by inequalities.
Based on the Commission’s proposal, and following exchanges in the relevant Council advisory committees, the final text of the report was adopted by the EPSCO Council and contributes to achieving upward social convergence, strengthening the Union’s drive towards fair green and digital transitions and facing demographic change.
The report points out that overall, the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion remained stable despite the crisis, after having decreased over the last decade. Moreover, in-work poverty remains a challenge for EU Member States. The share of employed working-age people at risk of poverty in the EU slightly increased from 2010 to 2019 but remained stable between 2020 and 2021.
Please find the full Joint Employment Report here.
To learn more about Eurodiaconia’s advocacy work in the area of access to employment at the European level, click here.