It focuses on target groups whose role in the economy has previously received too little attention: (long-term) unemployed people, people on benefit, immigrants, ethnic minorities, people working in the informal economy or living in disadvantaged rural areas, and women.

25. Calls on the Member States to design - in collaboration with the private sector and the social partners according to national practices - and present job plans including specific job creation measures, in particular for the sectors identified by the Commission as having high potential such as the health and social care sectors, the low-carbon, resource-efficient economy and the ICT sector; calls on the Member States to support, through those job plans, the creation of employment opportunities, particularly for the long-term unemployed, unemployed senior citizens, women, and other priority groups hit especially hard by the crisis, su ...[+++]ch as immigrants and people with disabilities;

33. Notes with concern the lack of progress in the field of social policy and employment; welcomes the new Government’s intention to address this problem; is aware of the budgetary constraints but calls, nevertheless, for a reversal of the trend of reducing the budget for the implementation of social assistance and protection reforms; underlines the urgent need to provide social assistance to the most vulnerable groups among the unemployed; notes with serious concern that child labour remains an important challenge and calls on the Government to resolutely address this issue;

33. Notes with concern the lack of progress in the field of social policy and employment; welcomes the new Government’s intention to address this problem; is aware of the budgetary constraints but calls, nevertheless, for a reversal of the trend of reducing the budget for the implementation of social assistance and protection reforms; underlines the urgent need to provide social assistance to the most vulnerable groups among the unemployed; notes with serious concern that child labour remains an important challenge and calls on the Government to resolutely address this issue;

8. Calls on Members States and the Commission to take steps to: develop growth and employment-friendly policies (e.g. more effective support to SMEs as well as more effective, better targeted and activating unemployment policies and social assistance schemes); to introduce lifelong learning, special training linked to sectors with labour shortages as well as needs of regional and local job markets and re-training in order to sustain employability of the long-term unemployed, and to promote lifelong up-skilling, vocational education, on-the-job training and paid traineeships with particular emphasis on unemployed young persons and on wor ...[+++]kers with low skills; aim at making full-time employees able to live from their work;

that every unemployed person is offered a new start before reaching 6 months of unemployment in the case of young people and 12 months in the case of adults in the form of training, retraining, work practice, a job or other employability measure, combined where appropriate with on-going job search assistance,