The PES Network

The European Network of Public Employment Services was established in May 2014 following a Decision of the European Parliament and Council to enhance the co-operation between PES in Europe.

Our members are the Public Employment Services (PES) of all 27 EU Member States as well as Norway and Iceland and Liechtenstein and the European Commission.

European level PES collaboration prior to the Decision dates back to 1997 when the Commission set up an informal advisory group of Heads of PES (HoPES) to promote cooperation, exchange and mutual learning between its member organisations, and to receive specialist feedback on policy initiatives in the employment field.

The PES Network can be officially heard by the European Parliament and Council, the Commission and other EU bodies and officially bring in its expertise on the labour market field.

Vision

The Network vision is to be the vehicle for enhanced European PES cooperation enabling them to deliver their role as labour market conductors, contributing to European employment strategies, improving labour market function and integration and creating better balanced labour markets.

Mission

The core purpose of the PES Network is to promote modernisation of PES, encouraging optimum use of evolving technology and enhanced data sources, assisting them in adapting their role and function contributing to implementation of EU employment policies and strategies. It will achieve this through continuing to strengthen and encourage co-operation between PES, thereby:

  • Increasing their capacity to enhance labour market function
  • Boosting labour demand, including through encouraging voluntary mobility
  • Using labour market information to anticipate demands
  • Preparing the labour force for active labour market participation and skills development

For achieving our aims, we want to increase the efficiency of all national PES, so that they are able to offer qualitative services:

  • We learn from each other by analysing and comparing the performances of all PES
  • We exchange our information and ideas, especially our best practices. These are for example programmes, where employers are brought in touch with jobseekers successfully. Of course, we use the results for our projects.
  • We implement initiatives. One example is the Youth Guarantee. In this project, we fight against youth unemployment. All jobseeking young people should get an offer for a suitable job or an educational opportunity.

We recommend the EU Commission website on Public Employment Services, here you can find for example our Knowledge Center or a range of shared PES practices. Practitioner´s toolkits, analytical papers, reports and inspiring practices as well as other learning outcomes from Public Employment Services across Europe can be explored. Our webpage and the related sites provide information for practitioners, researchers, stakeholders and the general public. This activity has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation “EaSI” (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi