
UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour
Context and Objectives
Unemployment and underemployment, specially among young people and women, pose one of the most pressing challenges on both shores of the Mediterranean. Unemployment is a root cause for several alarming phenomena in the region that include migration, violence, unrest and the expansion of the informal economy.
Unemployment is a root cause for several alarming phenomena in the region.
Within this context, the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour convenes twice a year bringing together representatives from employment and labour ministries and agencies of the UfM Member States as well as representatives from European institutions/agencies and international organisations.
The main objective of the UfM Regional Platform on Employment and Labour is to follow up on the implementation of the UfM Ministerial Declarations on Employment and Labour, guided by the pertinent Roadmap.
Policy Framework
Meetings are organised at regular intervals at Ministerial level to discuss the most pressing employment and socio-economic challenges in the region as well as to decide on the way forward (acting upon Ministerial Declaration). A roadmap is then drawn up to implement the commitments made in the Ministerial Declaration. The policy priorities of the latest Ministerial Declaration on Employment and Labour focused on the employment and employability challenges of the most vulnerable, especially among youth and women.
Regular meetings of the Regional Platform on Employment and Labour and the Social Dialogue Forum are organised to follow up on the roadmap and to discuss further all aspects related to employment, employability and decent work.
The Regional Platform on Employment and Labour meet usually twice per year and bring together government representatives, social partners (employer organisations and trade unions) and labour experts, to advance on the implementation of the commitments taken in the Ministerial Declarations on Employment and Labour.