The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) support for workers increased three-fold in 2010 to over €83 million. The Fund was distributed among nine Member States and is intended to help the national authorities as they support dismissed workers in finding new job opportunities.

The report adopted by the European Commission shows that nearly 23,700 workers dismissed due to economic crisis and major structural changes in world trade patterns were helped by the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) last year. The €83.5 million paid out by the EU's Globalisation Fund to nine Member States are intended to help the national authorities as they support dismissed workers in finding new job opportunities.

The contributions targeted 23,688 workers dismissed in nine Member States (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain), with €83 million from the Fund. The support was granted to co-finance active labour market policy measures proposed and organised for the workers by the Member States. The concrete measures for the job-seekers included intensive, personalised job-search assistance, various types of vocational training, up-skilling and retraining measures, temporary incentives and allowances for the duration of the active measures, and other types of support such as business creation and public employment schemes.

In addition, the report also shows a growing number of applications. Also EGF applications are being presented in a growing number of sectors, and by an increasing number of Member States. In 2009, the applications for EGF already increased six-fold. Three Member States applied for the first time in 2010: the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. Besides the 2010 annual report describes the outcomes of four EGF contributions granted in previous years to three Member States (Spain, Portugal and Germany) and the way the EGF support helped the redundant workers find new jobs. It shows that 629 workers laid off by employers in the car, textile and mobile phone industries had found new jobs or become self-employed by the end of the 12-month EGF support period. The results for the workers' reintegration into employment were seriously affected by the difficulties facing local and regional labour markets in terms of job opportunities and vacancies, as a direct consequence of the crisis.