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Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States

TA-10-2026-0357 · P10_TA(2026)0357 · PE796.162

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Parliament's amended version of the proposed Council decision on guidelines for member states' employment policies approves the Commission proposal with changes to the recitals and to Guideline 5. The amended recitals stress quality job creation, skills, social dialogue, affordable housing, poverty reduction and Parliament's call to be involved in setting the Integrated Guidelines on an equal footing with the Council. The amended Guideline 5 asks member states to promote quality job creation, skills development, fair working conditions, gender equality, legal migration pathways and modernised social protection, including pensions, health and long-term care.

Key points

  1. Parliament welcomes the Commission's fully updated employment guidelines and repeats its call to be involved in setting the Integrated Guidelines on an equal footing with the Council.
  2. The recitals add that access to decent, sustainable and affordable housing, including public and social housing, is a condition for equal opportunities and social inclusion.
  3. The Employment Guidelines should be applied in full compliance with subsidiarity and proportionality and support human capital through lifelong learning, vocational education and training and reskilling.
  4. Member states should transpose and implement Directive (EU) 2022/2041 and Directive (EU) 2023/970, including collective-bargaining action plans where Article 4 of the first directive requires them.
  5. Member states should use EU funding, including the European Social Fund Plus, the Social Climate Fund and the Just Transition Fund, for quality employment, skills, poverty reduction and workplace adaptation to climate risks.
  6. Guideline 5 is renamed 'Boosting quality job creation'; member states should support investment and innovation-led growth for quality jobs and reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on companies hiring people.
  7. Short-time work schemes such as SURE and similar arrangements, with targeted training, should help workers stay employed during downturns; employment-protection instruments modelled on SURE and Just Transition funding should be reinforced.
  8. National taxation should support job creation, be progressive and in line with climate objectives; joint taxation schemes that discourage secondary earners should be reformed, and public contracts should exclude contractors engaged in unfair competition.
  9. Member states should address skills and labour shortages, modernise education and training including in rural and remote areas, and equip learners with basic, digital, AI and soft skills and raise awareness of vocational pathways.
  10. Member states should provide tailored assistance to unemployed and inactive people, implement the reinforced Youth Guarantee with an offer within 4 months for young people aged 15-29, and remove barriers to labour market participation for underrepresented groups.
  11. Member states should ensure gender equality, tackle workplace violence and harassment in line with ILO Convention 190, and attract talent from outside the Union through legal migration pathways with fair recruitment and equal treatment.
  12. Member states should ensure fair working conditions, prevent precarious work, govern AI and algorithmic management, support social dialogue with an aim of 80% collective bargaining coverage, and modernise social protection, pensions, health and long-term care.

Who is affected

  • Member states: must follow the amended employment guidelines and implement the cited directives.
  • Workers and jobseekers: targeted by measures on skills, working conditions, unemployment support and inclusion.
  • Employers and companies: affected by rules on hiring burdens, public contracts, tax reform and collective bargaining.
  • Social partners: to be involved in policy design and collective bargaining, with support for their capacity.
  • Third-country and mobile workers: covered by legal migration pathways, qualification recognition and protection against exploitation.

Figures and deadlines

  • At least 78% of the population aged 20-64 in employment by 2030.
  • At least 60% of all adults participating in training every year by 2030.
  • At least 15 million fewer people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2030, including 5 million children.
  • Youth Guarantee offer within 4 months for young people aged 15-29.
  • Aim of a collective bargaining coverage rate of 80%.
  • Aim of eradicating poverty by 2035.

Legal basis: Article 148(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.