Identifying Problem Areas for EU Member States' Labour Market Policies

Background

The European Commission launched its Europe 2020 Strategy while developing its response to the challenges arising throughout Europe from the economic crises. Europe 2020 sets out the Commission's key priorities in terms of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, and provides a framework for Member States' policy responses and the implementation of structural reforms.

Goals

The European Commission has asked a consortium including RAND Europe, the University of Warwick Institute of Employment Research, and Cambridge Econometrics, to:

• provide the Commission with a proposal for an economic model or framework to help rank the urgency of action in key employment policy areas at the Member State and EU level; and
• provide the Commission with a proposal for a transparent assessment methodology to evaluate and determine Member States' and EU progress made within the employment field of the new EU2020 strategy.

The research questions developed to address these objectives will be applied to two main policy areas: employment and social policy; and education and training policy.

A multidisciplinary mix of methodology will be used during the project, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements, and drawing from expertise in a series of disciplines, including: economics, econometrics, statistics, sociology, and policy analysis.

Project Team

Christian van Stolk, project leader
Barbara Janta
Sunil Patel
Watu Wamae

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