How in practice can the ESF support workers who lose their jobs or risk losing it?
The ESF offers a vast range of possibilities. Assistance can be targeted at workers directly, at companies undergoing restructuring or even companies who might be able to increase employment opportunities. Timing is key: the ESF should be used to provide early assistance, to avoid long-term unemployment settling in, for example when a worker is in a pre-redundancy period. The ESF can help workers find a new job. Funds can be used to assess the current skills of workers and to identify the most suitable future training paths. Funds can also be used to provide job guidance and to identify possible employment opportunities – for example by actively helping in job search activities and then preparing workers for interviews. For the high-skilled unemployed, a new group of unemployed in this crisis, an option could be additional or complementary studies (including post-graduate studies), which the ESF can also finance. Furthermore, the ESF can provide financial incentives to support mobility
