EQUAL mirrors the four key elements of the European Employment Strategy:

• Employability
• Entrepreneurship
• Adaptability
• Equal Opportunities

 

EQUAL Themes

Each Member State chooses a sub-set of these themes within which it wishes to explore new ways of tackling the problems relevant to discrimination and inequality in the national labour market, rather than focusing on a specific target group. This flexibility for Member States is designed to improve the chances of subsequent mainstreaming of policy outcomes.

EU-wide Themes for EQUAL

Employability

A : Facilitating access and return to the labour market for those who have difficulty in being integrated or re-integrated into a labour market which must be open to all.

B : Combating racism and xenophobia in relation to the labour market.

Entrepreneurship

C : Opening up the business creation process to all by providing the tools required for setting up in business and for the identification and exploitation of new possibilities for creating employment in urban and rural areas.

D : Strengthening the social economy (the third sector), in particular the services of interest to the community, with a focus on improving the quality of jobs.

Adaptability

E : Promoting lifelong learning and inclusive work practices which encourage the recruitment and retention of those suffering discrimination and inequality in connection with the labour market.

F : Supporting the adaptability of firms and employees to structural economic change and the use of information technology and other new technologies.

Equal Opportunities for Women and Men

G : Reconciling family and professional life, as well as the reintegration of men and women who have left the labour market, by developing more flexible and effective forms of work organisation and support services.

H : Reducing gender gaps and supporting job de-segregation.

Asylum Seekers

I : Helping the integration of asylum seekers (in relation to the world of work). It is not a devolved matter.

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