The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), has released a study focused on local employment initiatives involving the cooperation of various public and private stakeholders. The report, entitled “Joint public-private local partnerships for employment to cope with the recession” examines how such local partnerships have been and are being used across the EU and Norway to prevent or counteract the effects of the economic crisis on labour markets, concluding that in many European countries LPPPs still represent untapped potential.

According to the report “Joint public-private local partnerships for employment to cope with the recession” many countries have not fully seized the opportunity to use local partnerships to tackle the labour market effects of the crisis. Some of the obstacles to the deployment of local action pre-dated the crisis, such as highly centralised frameworks for employment policy and partnerships designed, initiated and implemented by local actors alone are rare. 

This report focuses on local employment initiatives involving the cooperation of various public and private stakeholders and examines how such local partnerships have been and are being used across Europe to prevent or counteract the effects of the economic crisis on labour markets. Evidence collected from the national reports for this study reveals a patchwork of initiatives and a marked heterogeneity across European countries in terms of local public-private partnerships (LPPPs), ranging from a few isolated developments in the 12 new Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 (EU12) and/or centralised states to common practice in northern and western European Member States.

A lack of uniformity regarding the number, size and scope of initiatives is inherent in the nature of Local Employment Development (LED). Because partnerships are entirely dependent on their local contexts, they may vary in each region, subregion or municipality.

The local dimension of employment policies is present in all countries but the use of partnerships as a mechanism for local employment development tends to be closely or exclusively related to the use of European Structural Funds. LPPPs focus on a wide range of issues linked to the European Social Fund (ESF). This includes training and skills development, the promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment, the integration of the most vulnerable groups in the labour market and promotion of equal opportunities, notably through social economy projects.

Local public-private partnerships (LPPPs) still rare in the EU

In many Member States, LPPPs are still rare and are an innovative practice; few examples of project-based, ad-hoc specific partnerships can be found. However, such initiatives may be very small-scale and difficult to identify due to lack of visibility, particularly if they are initiated by companies or NGOs rather than public initiative.

Regarding the scope of LPPP activities, historically across Europe they have typically focused their efforts on the most disadvantaged groups in the labour market, such as young people or long-term unemployed people. In facilitating their access to the labour market, LPPPs have worked to support activities to enhance labour market access or reinsertion including the design and delivery of training, including lifelong learning, and activities to support the job transition process, as well as activities to foster business development, growth and innovation.

Across all countries, the types of stakeholders most commonly involved in LPPPs include municipalities, provincial or regional authorities, the PES, private companies, social partners and NGOs/NPOs. Most local employment partnerships result from public initiatives: public stakeholders at various levels are generally seen as the main catalysts for action and as promoters of local partnerships. A common challenge in establishing LPPPs across the EU is the involvement of private sector representatives, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in the design and implementation of measures.