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EU local and regional authorities contributing to the mid-term review of Europe 2020

Assessment of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs

flagship initiative

Over two years after its launch, the Committee of the Regions will take stock of the flagship initiative Agenda for New Skills and Jobsin a conference to be held on 28 February and 1 March 2013 in Dublin. This conference will be the second in a series of CoR events and monitoring initiatives surrounding the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014. More news on this conference can be found on the CoR website[1].

By participating in this survey, you will:

  • ensure that your views are taken into account in the debate held during the conference;
  • contribute to the fourth CoR Monitoring Report on Europe 2020, to be published in October 2013;
  • contribute to CoR consultative activity in this field over the coming months;
  • contribute to the mid-term review of Europe 2020 in 2014.

If you wish to participate in this survey, Please complete this questionnaire in any eu language, using the spaces provided, and return it in text format to:

by 21 January 2013

For more information on this survey and for details on how to join the Europe 2020 Monitoring Platform, go to:

Contributor information[2]

Name of sender: / Pedro Pinilla Piñero
Contact details:
(address, telephone, email) / Paseo de Roma, s/n. Módulo C. 3 ª planta. 06800-Mérida
Tel: 924 027344. e-mail:
On behalf of:
(name of local or regional authority) / Director General for Employment at the Extremadura Public Employment Service
Type of organisation / City/Town/Municipality Region
County/Province Association of local and/or regional authorities
Other (please specify)
Country: / Spain
Member of the EUROPE 2020 Monitoring Platform: / Yes No

Policy challenges and responses at regional and local level

BOX 1 – Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: basic information
The aim of the Europe 2020 flagship initiative Agenda for New Skills and Jobs is "to create conditions for modernising labour markets with a view to raising employment levels and ensuring the sustainability of our social models. This means empowering people through the acquisition of new skills to enable our current and future workforce to adapt to new conditions and potential career shifts, reduce unemployment and raise labour productivity"[3].
This aim is in line with the following Europe 2020 headline targets, to be achieved by 2020:
  1. 75% of the working-age population (20-64 years) to be in work
  2. to reduce the school drop-out rate to below 10%
  3. at least 40% of 30-34 year olds to have completed tertiary education
  4. to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and social exclusion.
The Agenda for New Skills and Jobs contributes to the Europe 2020 objective of inclusive growth, together with the flagship initiative European Platform against poverty and social exclusion.
It also contributes to the other objectives of smart growth (being complementary to the flagship initiative Youth on the Move) and sustainable growth (being complementary to the flagship initiative Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era).
You can find more information on the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, as seen from thelocal and regional authorities' viewpoint, in the Committee of the Regions' publication Delivering on the Europe 2020 Strategy. Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities[4]. General information on Europe 2020 can be found on the strategy's official website[5] and DG Employment's website[6].
1) What are the main challenges currently facing your region/city in terms of (i) functioning of the labour markets, (ii) skills of the workforce, and (iii) quality of jobs and working conditions?
i) Increasing activity in the services, industry and construction sectors, since the public sector is currently dominant.
Increase the entrepreneurial initiative of the population in general. Uncompetitive labour market.
ii) Improve qualifications in the productive sector. Identify new emerging qualifications in the labour market.
iii) More measures to encourage a better work-life balance for workers in other sectors.
2) To help meet these objectives, your country has set its own targets, which you can find at To what extent are the targets set by your country appropriate to your local situation? Please explain.
The aim of getting 75% of the population of working age (20-64) into employment: we are adapting to the needs of our region, particularly as regards the young population range (<under 30) where, despite having certain qualifications, they have no work experience and thus have major difficulties in entering the labour market.
3) Please briefly describe what kind of policy programmes/actions are being implemented in your city/region to tackle the challenges addressed by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs.
1. Reducing the school drop-out rate: Measure to ensure that young people acquire their certificate for completing compulsory secondary education.
2. Make it easier to gain work experience (ages: 16-64) via public employment programmes.
3. Guidance programmes for young graduates.
4. Tailor-made programmes (information, assessment and guidance) for the unemployed in general in the form of individual pathways to get them into the labour market.
5.Guidance and work experience programmes for groups at risk of exclusion.
6. Introduction shortly of a Basic Income for Social Inclusion to reduce the levels of risk of poverty.

How is the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs relevant to your city or region?

BOX 2 - Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: main lines of action and initiatives
The specific objectives of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs are:
  • more efficient labour markets, mainly through flexicurity, to be ensured by changing the legal framework at the national and regional levels
  • a more skilled workforce, through skills upgrading and matching of skills and jobs
  • better job quality and working conditions
  • stronger policies to promote job creation and demand for labour.
Specific initiatives and tools at EU level include:
  • the European Social Fund (ESF), to support skills upgrading, the matching of skills and jobs, better quality of work and working conditions (supporting measures reconciling work and private life, non-discrimination and equal opportunities) and job creation (support for self-employment and entrepreneurship)
  • the "European Fund for the Integration of third-country nationals", to integrate the latter into the labour market
  • The Lifelong Learning Programme (covering school education, higher education and adult education)
  • The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), supporting education infrastructure, etc.

4) Which of the aims and specific objectives of the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (listed in box 1 and box 2) are most relevant in view of the challenges currently facing your region/city?
1. Reduce the school drop-out rate to below 10%.
2. Encourage a more qualified labour force by improving qualifications and tailoring them to jobs.
5) Which of the lines of action shown in Box 2 are most relevant to you, in the sense that they have encouraged you to set more ambitious policy goals at regional/local level? Please explain your answers.
Identifying new qualifications required by the labour market and encouraging training measures to provide these new qualifications.
Support employment for qualified individuals through the practical work contract approach.
6) Overall, what are the strong and weak pointsof the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, as seen from your regional/local standpoint?
Strong points: Encouraging a more highly qualified workforce and boosting policies aimed at generating jobs and demand for labour.
Weak points: creating more efficient labour markets.
7) Would you recommend any specific changes to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs flagship initiative, following Europe 2020's mid-term review in 2014?
Oversee specific measures for job seekers over 45 who have lost their jobs.

Are your country's policies relevant to your city or region?

8) Does your country's 2012 (current) National Reform Programme[7] (NRP) for Europe 2020adequately respond to your regional/local needs in the areas covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (see box 1)?
Responds in as much as:
1. Specific plans are being implemented to reduce the school drop-out rate, either by education bodies and/or in conjunction with employment bodies.
2. Employment policies are being revised with:
1. A special focus on the most vulnerable groups.
2. On-going guidance programmes: school, occupational and professional programmes.
3. Building the entrepreneurial spirit into education and training cycles for employment.
9) Did you have an opportunity to contribute to the drafting of your NRP in the policy field covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs or your National Job Plan, even if only indirectly by way of the organisations representing cities and regions in your country? If yes, please state briefly how.
No.
10) Would you suggest any changes in your country's NRP for 2013 with respect to the areas covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (see box 1)? If yes, please state briefly which changes.
To achieve the employment goals: make the age groups more flexible and include (over 45 to65) specific measures for those groups most affected by the crisis.

Managing and funding issues

11) How are your actions regarding the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (stated under question 3) funded? In particular: what is the role of the EU Structural Funds in funding actions related to the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs? If the Structural Funds were involved in funding these actions, have they been coordinated with other policy instruments available in your country?
European Social Fund. ESF.
12) Have any of the goals you pursued to raise employment levels through the acquisition of new skills been jeopardised due to fiscal consolidation policies and subsequent financial difficulties?
Yes.
13) With respect to the actions you have undertaken to implement the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs (as stated in your answer to question 3), are any of them being carried out in partnership by different tiers of government? If yes, please state (a) which administrative levels were involved and (b) which practical arrangements they took to manage those actions jointly.
Reducing the school drop-out rate:
Administrative bodies involved: Ministry of Education and Ministry for Employment, Business and Innovation.
Measures: Agreement with the education bodies to re-direct unemployed job seekers who have not completed their basic studies into the appropriate training schemes for obtaining the certificate for completing compulsory secondary education. Encouraging them to take part in the programme by awarding a grant of EUR 1000 after they have obtained the certificate.
14) How should employment issues be addressed in the forthcoming Partnership Agreement to be signed between your national government and the European Commission for the management of the Structural Funds under a Common Strategic Framework 2014-2020?
......
15)Please add any further comments you might wish to make on the matters dealt with in this questionnaire.
......
SHARE YOUR GOOD PRACTICE
With a view to the CoR conference to be held on 28 February and 1 March 2013 and the exhibition of good practices in the fields covered by the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs, you might wish to submit an example of good practice.
To do so, please complete the form available on our website:

/ JOIN THE EUROPE 2020 MONITORING PLATFORM
To help convey the voice of EU cities and regions in the implementation of Europe 2020 at EU level and in your country, join us. For details on how, see:

THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

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[2]Privacy Statement: The follow-up to your contribution requires that your personal data (name, contact details, etc.) be processed in a file. All the answers to the questions are voluntary. Your replies will be kept for a period of 5 years after the receipt of your questionnaire. Should you require any further information or wish to exercise your rights under Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 (e.g. to access, rectify or delete your data), please contact the data controller at . If necessary, you may also contact the CoR Data Protection Officer (). You have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time ( Please note that the questionnaire with your contribution and your contact details will be published online. Your questionnaire may be transmitted to CoR rapporteurs and other EU institutions for information. Should you not agree to this, please inform us accordingly.

[3]EUROPE 2020. A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, COM(2010) 2020 final, Brussels, 3.3.2010

[4]The Handbook can be downloaded from

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[7]All available here: