The policy ideas of the european emploment strategy: open coordination for social policiy recalibration

This study adds a substantive aspect to the body of literature on the open method of coordination. It investigates which policy ideas have been disseminated by the European Employment Strategy (EES) – through its employment guidelines and through the best practices shared in the mutual learning programme for employment. This approach of ‘policy ideas’ is useful to reach more substantive detail than studies which only investigate higher-level policy paradigms. The instruments of the EES are found to focus on activation, flexibility, lifelong learning and active employer-side ideas. Aspects of social security and investment in education or childcare receive little or no attention up to 2010. In 2010, following Europe 2020, social security and investments in education gain some prominence in the guidelines, but the best practices do not follow up on this change. Overall, the EES aims at such a strong pro-employment approach in European social policy arrangements that other values are no longer considered.