Evaluation of EU's #EmploymentAndSocialInnovation programme confirms its added value

A mid-term evaluation by the Commission confirms the success of the EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) in addressing current and future challenges related to the world of work. The evaluation report published today demonstrates that the programme helps to find solutions by providing support to vulnerable groups like young people, long-term unemployed, disabled, migrants, ethnic minorities and women. EaSI brings a clear EU value added: the programme is able to support projects with a larger scope and scale compared to what is possible at national level or regional level. It helps to build EU level networks and partnerships, as well as to produce databases, studies, capacity building and mutual learning activities. Moreover, EaSI fosters social innovation and makes labour and financial markets more accessible. Finally, EaSI fills a clear gap in the supply of microcredits and support to social entrepreneurship across the EU.

Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Commissioner Marianne Thyssen said: “The EU Programme for Employment and Innovation has steered innovative social projects all across Europe. The instrument provides crucial funding to improve employment and social policies, increase job mobility and support social entrepreneurs. This mid-term evaluation paves the way for a further fine-tuning to make our actions even more effective.”

During the 2014-2016 period, about 185 projects were funded under EaSI programme, including capacity building for 20 EU-level NGO networks per year. The integrated EURES job mobility portal posted around 1 million vacancies per year and attracted 700,000 visitors a month; 3.5% of people contacting EURES found a job as a direct result. EaSI has also made it easier for vulnerable groups to access small loans to start or develop their business. The number of microloans granted multiplied from 421 in 2015 to 13,021 in 2016, while 64 social enterprises received support during the period under review.

EaSI is managed directly by the European Commission. The total budget for 2014-2020 is around €920 million. In order to streamline the implementation of the programme, simplify rules and use synergies to the fullest, the Commission proposed to integrate EaSI into the future European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for the budgetary period 2021-2027.

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