End poverty in all its forms everywhere- United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Number

1
Considering that more than 120 million people in Europe live with an income less than 60% of the
national median, how can the European Union reach their 2020 target of bringing at least 20 million
people out of poverty and social exclusion?
The EU promotes social security and inclusion by providing and coordinating funding to help
member countries invest in people in areas like childcare, healthcare, training, accessible infrastructure,
help with finding a job and to reform their social security systems through the following programs:
European Social Fund (ESF)
Across Europe, ESF projects are supporting job creation, opening new job opportunities for more
people and drawing more of them into the workforce. These efforts cover a wide spectrum of activities
and groups of people.
The long-term unemployed, often discouraged and inactive, are given the guidance and skills they
need to get back to work and enjoy financial independence. In declining industries, the ESF is giving
employees new productive skills and opportunities, often for new, growing sectors such as those forming
part of the low-carbon economy. Renewable energy is expected to increase its employment share in
energy production from 19%(2010) to 32% by 2020 (about 3 million people by 2020). Retrofitting houses
could generate around 280000450000 new jobs. A survey found that 78% of Europeans believe that
combating climate change can boost the economy and create jobs.
Pre-entry routes and progression pathways for the unemployed, low-skilled and other
disadvantaged groups (ex-offenders) have been developed to facilitate labor market re-entry through
programs to retrofit social housing. For those with few or no qualifications, ESF programs offer training
and qualifications that lead to better job prospects. ESF projects focus on providing low-qualified young
people with the work-related skills that can lead to stable employment. ESF projects are supporting them
with individual career guidance, CV writing and interview skills; and often accompany them through the
job-application process and on into the first few months at work. Across the EU the ESF is financing
initiatives to improve education and training and ensure young people complete their education and get
the skills that make them more competitive on the jobs market. Reducing school drop-out rates is a major
priority here, along with improving vocational and tertiary education opportunities. In particular, the EU
is working to reduce the youth unemployment rate, which is more than twice as high as the rate for adults.
Extra support for youth comes through the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI). The YEI concentrates on
NEETs and on regions experiencing youth unemployment rates above 25%, where the challenges are
most acute the level of support per young person is sufficient to make a real difference. The YEI will
amplify the support provided by the ESF for the implementation of the Youth Guarantee which aims at
ensuring that all young people up to 25 receive a good quality offer of employment, continued education,
an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of leaving formal education or becoming
unemployed. Each EU Member State creates new partnerships between national ministries, central and
local government and between the worlds of education, business, youth organisations, employment
agencies, EU initiatives such as Youth on the move will help increase young Europeans professional
mobility around Europe. social and health services in order to undertake structural reforms: reforming
education at large so that it may provide the skills that are needed on the labor market, introducing second
chance education and a much more comprehensive outreach to early school leavers, fostering much closer
cooperation between employment agencies and other actors. In parallel, the ESF is providing important
funding for the necessary long-term structural reform and investment in the future of young people and
the economy.
The ESF is also supporting mobility for work, helping with language skills and work placements
for those who want to travel across Europe to find jobs. Parents are helped to return to work through

access to childcare facilities, and flexible working arrangements. Women are encouraged to take up
technical jobs, while men are trained in the caring and teaching professions usually dominated by women.
Throughout Europe, many parents, especially women, take a career break to bring up children yet when
they try to get back to work they may find their skills outdated and childcare provision lacking. Womens
part-time work might also lead to fewer career opportunities, less-qualified work than when working fulltime and, therefore, lower pay. Unfortunately, young women often work in jobs that are below their
competences, and also accept less well-paid jobs, due to traditions and gender roles. The ESF is helping
them to update their skills and balance their work/life responsibilities, while being protected from
violence. Women are under-represented in the decision-making process, both in parliaments and national
governments and on management boards of large companies, despite making up half the workforce and
more than half of new university graduates in the EU. The Commission will propose targeted initiatives to
improve the situation; with the aim of achieving at least 40% female membership. The ESF also
encourages entrepreneurship as a way into working life. Women in rural environments are supported in
setting up on their own to serve local and tourist markets. Artists and creative professionals get the
business training and advice they need to offer innovative services to companies. Parents with childcare
responsibilities are offered the IT skills to set up online and home-based businesses. Helping people set up
their own companies contributes significantly to job creation. The ESF helps entrepreneurs and the selfemployed in many ways, including support for training in basic management, legal and financial skills for
setting up a business. Some projects use business mentors to help entrepreneurs through the critical first
years. Others promote networks of entrepreneurs to exchange experiences and offer support. In addition,
getting the finance to set up or grow a small business may prove difficult as start-ups can be risky and
banks reluctant to lend. In response, there are many examples of ESF microfinance projects set up in EU
countries specifically to lend the relatively small amounts of capital that new entrepreneurs might need.
As globalisation makes the process of change a way of life, EU workers need to become more
adaptable and open to change. Employers are also helping, with ESF support, to anticipate future skills
requirements and offer workers the development opportunities needed to adapt to new technologies and
markets. Workers and companies must become more flexible and learn to live with change to anticipate
and manage it. The responsibility for learning to adapt does not fall on individuals alone. This means
modernizing the institutions that deal with employment and changing their focus away from reacting to
company closures and job losses and moving towards longer-term planning and the anticipation of
change. Where unemployment threatens, training also helps reorient those threatened into growing
industries where skills are in demand. More active career management is also encouraged, in particular
helping people to recognise their future career needs and plan for these, often through lifelong learning
programs. The ESF also supports worker-mobility schemes that encourage individuals to move to regions
where jobs are available.
In addition, ESF projects are promoting active ageing among older workers and job-seekers.
These projects encourage them to upgrade their existing skills, which may be out of date to train in new
skills where needed, embrace new technologies and IT and discuss changes in working practices with
their employers. Tailored approaches are being used to encourage older people to stay in work longer and
continue to make valuable contributions. Likewise, there are specific initiatives that encourage businesses
to take on older job seekers. The interactions between employment and caring are becoming increasingly
important in the face of demographic ageing in Europe in order to guarantee the sustainability of longterm care systems, that way, an extensive contribution from informal careers will be necessary. A sizeable
proportion of the workforce are already juggling their paid employment with caring responsibilities, and
this looks set to increase over the coming years. Key initiatives include: leave arrangements, reduced
working hours, counselling and practical support.
Europe is home to groups of people that regularly encounter severe discrimination and prejudice.

The ESF supports a wide range of such social enterprises addressing groups facing particular obstacles to
work such as disabled people, those with mental health problems, ex-offenders, marginalized
communities (LGBTI), immigrant communities that concentrate in suburban areas, the Roma and
numerous others. One of the largest and most disadvantaged groups of people in Europe is the Roma
community, made up of around 1012 million people, 80 % of whom are at risk of poverty. Sometimes
because there are no local schools, or because Roma children are not accepted into schools, over 70 % of
the Roma population have a lower than primary school level of education, which not only excludes them
from jobs, but also creates a negative perception of their employability, thus making them even more
excluded. There are very high school drop-out rates among young Roma. With few or no skills or
qualifications, and confronted by ingrained prejudice, Roma people find it extremely difficult to get work
and enjoy the social and financial benefits that employment brings. The ESF can improve the integration
of Roma through innovative projects in areas such as health services, counselling, education, training, and
guidance for the self-employed. Teachers in schools with Roma children are trained to deal with the
particular issues they may face. Successful Roma role models are promoted to young Roma in campaigns
to improve their motivation to succeed. Universities and training institutions are training young Roma in
medical and social protection skills which they can take back to their communities to help raise living
standards. Developing the role of Roma women in their communities is another focus, supporting them in
setting up their own craft enterprises.
While social enterprises operate on a commercial basis, their primary purpose is to serve their
communities in one or several ways. This includes the creation of job opportunities for people who
otherwise might remain unemployed. An example is a second-hand clothes shop set up in a town. It
employs disabled people to collect, sort, clean and resell second-hand clothes; a company established in a
rural region which trains women in the skills local businesses need, or helps them set up as self-employed
workers to serve the tourism sector, or the sale of local farm products. Supporting community-led local
development (CLLD) is a bottom-up approach which recognises that local people and groups, especially
those in relatively isolated communities, can have a better knowledge of local problems that need to be
addressed as well as a greater sense of ownership and commitment to the success of projects.
EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI)
The Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme is a financing instrument at EU level to
promote a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social
protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions. The availability
and accessibility of microfinance for vulnerable groups and micro-enterprises will be increased, as well as
the access to finance for social enterprises. It brings together three EU programmes managed separately
between 2007 and 2013: PROGRESS, modernising of employment and social policies; EURES, a
European job mobility network that provides information, guidance and recruitment/placement services to
employers, jobseekers and any citizen wishing to take advantage of freedom of movement for workers;
and Progress Microfinance.
European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF)
The EGF helps workers made redundant as a result of changing global trade patterns to find
another job as quickly as possible. The EGF provides support to people losing their jobs as a result of
major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation. As a general rule, the EGF can be
used only where over 500 workers are made redundant by a single company, or if a large number of
workers are laid off in a particular sector in one or more neighbouring regions. It can also provide training
allowances, mobility/relocation allowances, subsistence allowances or similar support. The EU provides
common rules to protect your social security rights when moving within Europe. All countries are free to
decide who is to be insured under their legislation, which benefits are granted and under what conditions.
You are covered by the legislation of one country at a time so you only pay contributions in one country.
You have the same rights and obligations as the nationals of the country where you are covered. This is

known as the principle of equal treatment or non-discrimination. When you claim a benefit, your previous
periods of insurance, work or residence in other countries are taken into account if necessary. If you are
entitled to a cash benefit from one country, you may generally receive it even if you are living in a
different country. This is known as the principle of exportability.
Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)
The FEAD supports EU countries' actions to provide material assistance to the most deprived.
This includes food, clothing and other essential items for personal use. Material assistance needs to go
hand in hand with social inclusion measures, such as guidance and support to help people out of poverty.
National authorities may also support non-material assistance to the most deprived people, to help them
integrate better into society. Food aid (when not for emergency relief) can actually be very destructive on
the economy of the recipient nation and contribute to more hunger and poverty in the long term. Free,
subsidized, or cheap food, below market prices undercuts local farmers, who cannot compete and are
driven out of jobs and into poverty. In fact, if priority is not placed on the political root causes of hunger,
this will unwittingly contribute to the harm that has already been inflicted on the poor in developing
countries because the poor countries will remain dependent.
Finally, economic and monetary union will be deepened to include more social considerations. The
dialogue with employers and workers organisations will be promoted at all levels of governance and any
future stability support programmes for euro area countries will become the subject of a social impact
assessment. Restructuring not only affects the company and its employees but can have a major impact on
the region where the company is based. The impact of large-scale restructuring on regions and identified
examples of how regions successfully managed to maintain and improve their labor markets following
such restructuring events. Jobs in Europe are growing in quality, but the challenge of having enough jobs
remains. The fact that the economic crisis has had a very different labor market impact in different
Member States suggests that different policies and regulatory frameworks may have played a role. Are
there some policies that work better than others?
The Matching skills and jobs section provides new evidence on matters such as: Under-skilling
which occurs when workers skills may be below the level needed because the skill needs of their jobs
may change over time, due to new technologies, production methods and forms of work. They require
higher levels of continuing vocational training to upgrade their skills and remain productive in their jobs.
Under-utilisation of skills is a matter of concern for public policy and enterprises as over-skilled
individuals. Individuals who occupy jobs that do not fully utilise their skills are also less likely to
experience continued skill development. To prevent skills obsolescence, commitment by individuals and
employers to continuous adult learning is required.
The gender pay gap still exists, including for equal work and work of equal value. There are many
causes of this pay gap, in particular, segregation in education and in the labor market. Less than one per
cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year
2000 and yet it didnt happen. By contrast, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to benefit from
economic or political policies. The amount spent on military, financial bailouts and other areas that benefit
the wealthy, compared to the amount spent to address the daily crisis of poverty and related problems are
often staggering. Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world have
resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. In addition, developing nation governments are required to
open their economies to compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized
nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bottom to see who can provide
lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources. This has increased poverty and inequality for most
people. It also forms a backbone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic
unequal rules of trade.