European Network of Public Employment Services

The European network of Public Employment Services was established following a Decision – amended in 2020 – by the Council and the European Parliament to maximise efficiency of public employment services (PES).

The network comprises all EU countries, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the European Commission.

PES Network Mission: The PES Network aims to encourage cooperation between Member States within the areas of PES responsibility, in order to contribute to the implementation of the Union’s employment policies. This contributes to implementing the principles in the European Pillar of Social Rights, to the European Green Deal objectives and to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

PES Network Objectives

The PES Network aims to:

compare PES performance through benchmarking
identify evidence-based good practices and foster mutual learning (individual PES practices can be found in the PES Repository and outputs from the network activities can be found in the PES Knowledge Centre)
promote the modernisation and strengthening of PES service delivery, including of the Youth Guarantee
prepare inputs to the European Employment Strategy and the corresponding national labour market policies.

PES Network Governance

The Network is governed by a Board, where each Member State and the Commission are represented by two members. The Board meets twice a year to conduct strategic discussions and take decisions on the activities of the Network.

PES Network board members

The PES Network Newsletter is intended to raise awareness of the work of the Network and disseminate learning resources to PES colleagues and other stakeholders. It is issued quarterly to highlight the latest publications, new items as well as forthcoming events.

If you would like to receive the Newsletter, please register or send an e-mail to the EMPL-PES-SECRETARIATec [dot] europa [dot] eu (PES Network secretariat).

Key network documents

Public Employment Services

In EU countries, public employment services (PES) are the authorities that connect jobseekers with employers.

Although structured differently in each country, all PES help match supply and demand on the labour market through information, placement and active support services at local, national and European level.