The European Commission is gearing up to issue a recommendation to Member States to improve the services for the long-term unemployed.

This recommendation may come as early as this week.

Long-term unemployment refers to people who have been unemployed for 12 months or more, whilst the very long-term unemployed (VLTU) have not had a job for 24 months or more.

The number of people in the EU who have been unemployed for so long doubled between 2007 and 2014 and currently they account for half of the total unemployed people in the EU.

It is estimated that 12.1 million people are in long-term unemployment, 9.5 million in the euro area. This figure is roughly half of all the unemployed in the EU. This represents 5.1% of the active EU population. Sixty-one per cent of the long-term unemployed have been out of work for at least two consecutive years.

The ILO criteria are:

-         Not working (less than one hour per week)

-         Looking for work

-         Available for work.

What follows are figures given to us by Isabelle Maquet from the Commission’s Social Analysis Unit at DG Empl at a seminar organised by the European Journalism Centre in Brussels on Monday.

Malta is in the second-lowest group of LTUs, just above two per cent, slightly less than it was in 2008 but not that much lower.

Since the onset of the crisis, the chances of finding a job have decreased but fewer people, compared to the US, have moved to inactivity.

The longer one stays unemployed, the lower the chances of finding a job.

The new recommendation the Commission should be launching this coming week proposes three steps to improving the services for the long-term unemployed:

1.     Registration of unemployed people with an employment service.

2.     Individual in-depth assessment at 18 months of unemployment (at the latest).

3.     Job integration agreement at 18 months of unemployment (at the latest).

A Job Integration agreement can include (depending on the existing services in each member state): mentoring, help with the job search, further education and training, as well as support for housing, transport, child and care services or rehabilitation. It should be delivered through a single point of contact to ensure the continuity and consistency of the support.

The recommendation also calls on Member States to review and adapt their policies with a view to further involve employers in bringing back the long-term unemployed into the labour market through a better cooperation with the social partners, well-targeted financial incentives and strengthened service provision.

Member states can implement these recommendations with the support of the European Social Fund.