With a view to developing a coordinated strategy for employment, the 2015 Guidelines for the employment policies of the Member States call for long-term and structural unemployment to be significantly reduced by means of comprehensive and mutually reinforcing strategies that include individualised active support for a return to the labour market.

16. Draws the attention of the Member States and the Commission to the fact that after 2020, even though there will be fewer and fewer people of working age, active inclusion policies will nonetheless be needed for these people, and that there will be ever-greater competition for jobs, while the private sector will provide fewer and fewer jobs for those who are currently relatively low-skilled; recalls that even in some of the most affluent Member States (e.g. Denmark and Luxembourg), long-term unemployment is increasing alarming (nearly 12 million people in the EU are classified as long-term unemployed, representing 5 % of the workforc ...[+++]e, and 59 % of them have been out of work for two years); calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, to seek practical, bridging employment solutions for particularly low-skilled and unskilled workers and/or to help them find work again, which will necessitate a new approach, together with not only long-term strategies but also short-term measures, such as forms of income support, to prevent the social exclusion of the most disadvantaged groups, and the adjustment of existing tools such as the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the ESF in order to prevent permanent long-term unemployment, a recurrence of the recent population outflow towards more developed regions, in particular of people above the age of 50 and young people, and a lasting increase in that outflow; calls on the Commission to measure the accessibility of private-sector jobs for particularly low-skilled workers, and to establish which new jobs not requiring any qualifications could be created in the short term until 2020;

7. Considers it crucial that any programmes to reintegrate the long-term unemployed be geared to the needs of the labour market and be formulated in close cooperation with the social partners; calls on the Member States to motivate employers, including in a spirit of corporate social responsibility, to engage actively in offering job openings for the long-term unemployed, and, where needed, to appoint mentors to facilitate the smooth reintegration of the long-term unemployed on the work floor; calls for Member States’ employment services to assist SMEs in facilitating such mentoring; recalls that the long‑term unemployed need not only ...[+++] jobs but also comprehensive counselling and preparation for successful re-entry into the labour market;

T. whereas the following risks are a key focus of attention: long-term dependence on low/inadequate income; long-term unemployment; low-quality employment and a lack of work experience; poor education and illiteracy; growing up in a vulnerable family; disability; poor health; precarious housing conditions and homelessness; living in an area affected by multiple disadvantages; and immigration, racism, and discrimination,

U. whereas the following risks are a key focus of attention: long-term dependence on low/inadequate income; long-term unemployment; low-quality employment and a lack of work experience; poor education and illiteracy; growing up in a vulnerable family; disability; poor health; precarious housing conditions and homelessness; living in an area affected by multiple disadvantages; and immigration, racism, and discrimination,

The following risks are particularly relevant: prolonged dependence on a low/inadequate income; long-term unemployment; low-quality employment and the absence of professional experience; inadequate training and illiteracy; growing up in a vulnerable family; disabilities; precarious health; precarious housing and homelessness; living in an area affected by multiple disadvantages; immigration, racism and discrimination.