EaSI’s support for employment and social innovation

The EaSI Programme supports labour mobility between Member States and the fight against social exclusion

One of the great dreams on which the European Union was founded, labour mobility between countries, is being boosted by the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). Its main objective is to support job creation, promote mobility throughout the European Union and also to boost the social policies of each Member State.

EaSI is part of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), the EU’s main financial instrument that invests in people. ESF+ was born in 2020 to help Member States combat the ravages caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the areas of employment and social protection.

The EaSI Programme therefore has a budget of €762 million for the period 2021-2027 to work on its four priorities, all within the European Pillar of Social Rights: employment and skills; labour markets and labour mobility; social protection and active inclusion; and working conditions for European citizenship.

The three axes of EaSI

EaSI is largely managed by the European Commission and brings together three programmes that previously operated separately: Progress, EURES and Microfinance and Progress. Each of these forms a strand in EaSI’s work:

· Modernisation of employment and social policies with the PROGRESS axis, which manages 55% of EaSI’s budget.

· Labour mobility with the EURES axis, which takes 18% of the budget.

· Access to microfinance and social entrepreneurship with the Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship axis, with 27% of the total budget.

Deployment of the programme

EaSI’s objectives are very ambitious, and to achieve them, the programme finances various activities:

· Analytical actions such as studies, surveys, observatories, indicators, micro-simulations, etc., in order to have contrasted and updated data is of vital importance to detect areas for improvement.

· Specific labour mobility schemes to fill vacancies in labour markets where imbalances have been identified.

· Cross-border partnerships and services in cross-border regions.

· Dissemination and communication activities to exchange good practice and innovative approaches.