3 Integrating labour markets
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important |
| Committee's decision | Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested
|
| Document details | Draft Regulation on a European network of Employment Services, workers' access to mobility services and the further integration of labour markets
|
| Legal base | Article 46 TFEU; co-decision; QMV
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| Department
Document numbers
| Work and Pensions
(35746), 5567/14 + ADDs 1-4, COM(14) 6
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Summary and Committee's conclusions
3.1 EURES is a network of public employment services — Jobcentre
Plus in the UK — encompassing EU Member States, Norway,
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. It was launched in 1993
and comprises an internet portal on which job vacancies, applications
and CVs are loaded, and a network of specialist employment advisers.
The number of job-seekers registered on the EURES portal has grown
significantly in recent years, but there has been no corresponding
increase in labour mobility. The draft Regulation proposed by
the Commission is intended to improve the operation of EURES and
make it a more effective tool for job-seekers and employers interested
in intra-EU labour mobility.
3.2 The Government told us that the draft Regulation
would have minimal policy implications and compliance costs for
the UK, but expressed concern that UK job vacancies accounted
for more than 60% of the job vacancies on the EURES portal as
the UK, unlike some other Member States, made all vacancies held
by Jobcentre Plus available to EURES. The Minister for Employment
(Esther McVey) anticipated that a stronger obligation on all Member
States to advertise vacancies on the EURES portal would help to
rectify this imbalance, and added that during negotiations on
the draft Regulation, the Government would seek to achieve "a
commonly agreed definition of the EURES requirement for Public
Employment services (PES) to share vacancies" which would
increase the number of job vacancies in other Member States and
reduce the overall proportion of UK vacancies.[10]
3.3 As negotiations have progressed, the Government's
position has evolved. Whilst continuing to express support for
the Commission's proposal to require all Member States to share
their job vacancies through the EURES portal, the Minister added
that the UK would seek to ensure that "the vacancies the
UK posts on EURES are appropriate for cross-border recruitment
and that employers have a choice over whether they advertise their
vacancy in the UK or EU-wide". She indicated that a compromise
text was under discussion which would enable employers to choose
"not to advertise their vacancies on EURES if they believe
that they can find the right candidates in the local area".
The Government had introduced a similar provision at national
level, ensuring that job vacancies advertised on the UK's Universal
Jobmatch service are no longer automatically advertised on EURES.
Instead, recruiting employers are invited to consider "whether
they can find a candidate locally with the right skills and competence
requirements for their vacancy before choosing to advertise on
EURES".[11]
3.4 At our meeting on 26 November 2014, we agreed
to grant a scrutiny waiver to enable the Government to support
a General Approach at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and
Consumer Affairs (EPSCO) Council on 1 December. In doing so, we
asked the Minister to clarify how the General Approach would help
fulfil the Prime Minister's pledge, announced in a Daily Telegraph
article in July 2014, to "massively restrict" the number
of UK job vacancies on the EURES portal. We also asked her to
report back on the outcome of the EPSCO Council (enclosing a copy
of the General Approach, if agreed), to provide regular updates
on developments within the European Parliament and trilogue negotiations
(once underway), and to indicate the scale of the reduction in
the number of UK job vacancies made available to the EURES portal,
following the Prime Minister's July announcement.
3.5 We note that Article 14 of the Council General
Approach would substantially dilute the obligation contained in
the Commission's original proposal requiring Member States to
advertise on EURES all job vacancies available through their public
employment services (in the UK, JobCentre Plus and Universal Jobmatch).
We ask the Minister whether she is satisfied that the new provisions
on employer flexibility in Article 14(1)(a) — which largely
appear to reflect current practice in the UK — are sufficiently
robust to withstand a challenge based on the prohibition of discrimination
on grounds of nationality contained in Article 18 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). It would be helpful
if the Minister could include in her reply an example illustrating
how an employer may "duly justify" a decision not to
advertise a job vacancy on EURES by reference to particular skills
and competence requirements related to that job.
3.6 The General Approach introduces two new (discretionary)
exceptions to the requirement to advertise job vacancies on EURES,
the first relating to certain categories of traineeships and apprenticeships,
the second to job vacancies forming part of a Member State's active
labour market policies. We ask the Minister whether she expects
the UK to make use of these exceptions and, if so, to provide
examples of the type of job vacancies in the UK that would be
excluded on the grounds that they form part of active labour market
policies.
3.7 We welcome the Minister's offer to provide
a further update on the scale of the reduction in the number of
UK job vacancies made available to the EURES portal, following
the change of policy announced by the Prime Minister last July.
We would like to hear whether the UK has reached the target set
by the Prime Minister of "cutting back the number of vacancies
posted on this portal by more than 500,000". Meanwhile, the
draft Regulation remains under scrutiny. We look forward to receiving
regular updates on developments within the European Parliament
and on trilogue negotiations, once underway.
Full details of
the documents: Draft
Regulation on a European network of Employment Services, workers'
access to mobility services and the further integration of labour
markets: (35746), 5567/14 + ADDs 1-4, COM(14) 6.
Background
3.8 The draft Regulation would:
· expand
the EURES network to include a broader range of providers of employment
services (EURES Partners);
· increase
the number of job vacancies and CVs made available to the EURES
portal, include information on apprenticeships and traineeships,
and provide for the development of an automated job matching service;
· specify
the employment and mobility support services that should be made
available to employers and job-seekers; and
· strengthen
the requirement to exchange information on labour shortages and
surpluses across the EU, living and working conditions, and other
employment-related matters.
3.9 Until recently, all Jobcentre Plus job vacancies
have been made available to the EURES portal. One of the Government's
negotiating objectives has been to achieve a more equitable share
of job vacancies advertised by Member States on the EURES portal,
thereby reducing the disproportionate number of UK vacancies.
Article 14 of the Commission's original proposal sought to address
this concern by requiring Member States' public employment services
and their EURES Partners to make all of their job vacancies
available to the EURES portal without making "any distinction
according to the nature and duration of contracts nor the recruitment
intentions of employers". A limited exception was made for
job vacancies "which due to their nature or to national rules
are only open to citizens of a specific country".[12]
3.10 We understood that the Government supported
the thrust of Article 14, not least because it would require all
Member States to advertise their job vacancies as extensively
as the UK whilst also increasing opportunities for UK jobseekers
to obtain employment in another Member State. However, an article
by the Prime Minister (David Cameron) published in the Daily Telegraph
on 28 July 2014 appeared to herald a shift in the Government's
policy:
"In the past, all vacancies advertised via
Jobcentre Plus were automatically put on an EU-wide job portal,
too: this meant advertising more than a million vacancies across
the EU. We are going to massively restrict this, aiming to cut
back the number of vacancies posted on this portal by more than
500,000. Again, this is quite simply about putting British residents
first."[13]
The Minister's letter of 5 February 2015
3.11 The Minister confirms that the December 2014
EPSCO Council agreed a General Approach and encloses a copy of
the text.
3.12 The General Approach proposes a number of changes
to Article 14, including:
· flexibility
for Member States to "introduce a mechanism allowing employers
to have the option not to have a vacancy published on the EURES
portal if the request is duly justified on the basis of the skills
and competence requirements related to the job" (Article
14(1)(a)); and
· two
further exceptions, the first relating to "categories of
traineeships and apprenticeships" which are publicly funded
and form part of a Member State's active labour market policies
or which are part of "curricula, or formal education or vocational
education and training", the second relating to "other
job vacancies" which are part of a Member State's active
labour market policies (Article 14(2)(b) and (ba)).
3.13 The Minister notes that the European Parliament
has begun its consideration of the proposal, based on an initial
report by the Rapporteur which includes provisions on employer
choice similar to those in the Council General Approach. She continues:
"My officials are working with MEPs to ensure
the UK's priorities are understood and protected as far as possible
in the amendments adopted by the Parliament."
3.14 The Minister informs us that the changes introduced
domestically, which allow employers to determine whether or not
to advertise job vacancies on EURES, have led to a "significant
drop in the number of UK vacancies on the EURES portal".
Whilst cautioning that "it is still relatively early to be
able to assess the full impact of the change in such a short period
of time, especially given that December and January do not represent
normal hiring patterns", she estimates that UK vacancies
now stand at about 15% of the total number of job vacancies on
EURES — a reduction of 45%. Germany now contributes the
largest share, with around 47% of total job vacancies on EURES.
The Minister adds that these data "are only emerging"
and offers to provide a further update later in the year once
her Department has carried out a more in-depth analysis.
Previous Committee Reports
Twenty-second Report HC 219-xxi (2014-15), chapter
5 (26 November 2014); Thirty-seventh Report HC 83-xxxiv (2013-14),
chapter 7 (26 February 2014); and Forty-seventh Report HC 83-xlii
(2013-14), chapter 6 (30 April 2014).
10 Letter of 15 April 2014 from the Minister for Employment
to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee. Back
11
Letter of 21 November 2014 from the Minister for Employment to
the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee. Back
12
Article 14(2) of the draft Regulation. Back
13
Article entitled David Cameron: We're building an immigration
system that puts Britain first. Back
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