1. EURES Cross-Border Partnerships: Placement, Recruitment and Job Matching (from the point of view of EURES-T Danubius)
Mgr. Edita Bertová
EURES-T Danubius Coordinator
May 2011, Székesfehérvár, Hungary

2. CONTENTS
Partnership specifications and statistical indicators of the cross-border labour market
Partnership activities
Issues concerning the future
First some numbers to illustrate the regional labour market.
Then brief information about activities of EURES-T Danubius and how those activities are offered.
And finally, let us think together about a strategy for partnerships and the vision for their future.

3. Characteristics of the partnership
Area covered
4 Slovak districts
3 Hungarian counties
Partners
17 organisations – representatives of employment services and social partners

4. Statistical indicators on 31 March 2011
Region of partnership
Unemployment rate (average)
Registered jobseekers
Vacancies
Slovakia
14.23%
37,852
1,578
Hungary
8.53%
74,464
10,198
Average unemployment rate:
Slovakia – 4 districts
the highest unemployment rate is 16.60% (in Komárno)
the lowest unemployment rate is 11.29% (in Dunajská Streda)
Hungary – 3 counties:
the highest unemployment rate is 10.5% (in Komárom-Esztergom County)
the lowest unemployment rate is 6.9% (in Gyor-Moson-Sopron County)
Registered jobseekers versus unemployment rate:
Population density – the population is smaller on the Slovak side of the partner region.
Reporting vacancies is not mandatory under Slovak laws, whereas in Hungary it is.

5. Commuting flows Number of commuters in the partnership region 2006
2008
2010
Slovakia
Hungary
12,000
10,548
10,834
140
450
682
The data are based on:
The number of information cards of Hungarian citizens employed in Slovakia registered by Labour, Social Affairs and Family offices.
The State Health Treasury of Hungary, which monitors the insurance ID of the Slovak citizens employed in Hungary.
Statistical data on migrants from Slovakia to Hungary can only be acquired from the registers of insured persons kept by State Health Treasury. That service, however, is only provided upon request by central government authorities; it is lengthy and paid. That is the reason why it is difficult for the partnership to acquire important statistical data.

6. Comments on migration Balance of wages in the neighbouring countries
Common shortages in the labour market
Language barrier on the part of Hungarian citizens
The phenomenon of doing business by Hungarian citizens in Slovakia
When I was presenting the partnership in 2007, I said that labour migration from Slovakia to Hungary was high since the Hungarian border region had:
Better economic situation;
Lower unemployment rate;
Significant development of industrial parks.
At present the economic situation has been leveling, the unemployment rates are similar, there are investors on the Slovak side of the border, the economic crisis has affected industrial parks on both sides of the Danube.
4. Favourable conditions for businesses in Slovakia have attracted Hungarian citizens from the border region to do business in Slovakia. There are no registers of Hungarian persons doing business in Slovakia, although that piece of information will considerably increase the number of the migrating Hungarians. Slovak businesses with Hungarian owners also slightly increase the statistics of the Hungarian citizens employed in Slovakia.

7. Structure of the partnership activities
Employment services
(EURES and EURES-T advisors)
Social partners from employer organizations
(EURES-T advisors)
PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES
(information and mediation services)
Social partners from employee organizations

8. Activities focusing on job-matching
Job, information and education fairs
Europe of Youth
A seminar on creative small businesses

9. Activities indirectly focusing on job-matching
Study visits to regional employers for future school graduates
Barometer of professions
AKADÉMIA and VAPAC fair
Legal counselling
VISITS
On this issue I would like to say that EURES-T Beskydy has an additional activity following the visits to employers, namely internship programs for school graduates in the wood sector with employers in the neighbouring country.
LEGAL COUNSELLING
Many citizens have been considering getting jobs in the border region and have questions concerning wages and insurance-related contributions in the neighbouring state, want to know whether their potential employer is trustworthy and need help to understand the contract of employment in a foreign language. In that respect legal counseling helps significantly in placement and staying in a job by the unemployed.

10. Information activities
Specialised legal publications on getting employed and doing business (information points)
Information e-bulletin
Information forums for employers and citizens
Seminar on employment of disabled citizens
Website and Facebook

12. Added value
Financial and moral support for the regions and partner organizations ...
Tripartite level cooperation and management ...
Cooperation with the governmental, non-profit and private sectors ...
Strengthening of professional cooperation at cross-border level regardless of ethnic origin or nationality ... 12

13. ... With respect to the interests of the target groups:
unemployed citizens,
employers,
students
in the partnership cross-border region 13

14. Strategy of the partnership
Providing information of various kinds and in several formats...
Key activities: recruitment, flexible training for the labour market, organizing job days and forums – placement and job matching, exchange programs for youth, assisting disadvantaged groups...
Integrating the partnership activities
with the employment services and
job mediation through partnership organizations
1) Individual and group counseling and e-information,
2) Direct or indirect recruitment activities

15. Priority goals Information and coordination activities
By 2012:
Information and coordination activities
From 2012 on:
Matching vacancies with available workforce
Placement of the unemployed in the labour market

16. Pending issues
What are the criteria for assessment of the effectiveness of job mediation?
Can the partnership be really evaluated or is the reality in accordance with the evaluation of the employment services?
What kind of partnership activities and operation will be in line with the new strategy?
The role of social partners in the mediation process?
What will be the criteria of job mediation effectiveness? What indicators can be an objective measure of effectiveness bearing in mind that there are recruitment activities (job days) but rarely a valid feedback from the clients
If the EURES and EURES-T advisors are employees of partners organizations and operate under both the partnership and the national EURES network, is the number of their successful clients credited to the national employment services or to the partnership? If it is reported by both EURES and EURES-T, the real effectiveness of the advisors is actually doubled.
The partnership cannot substitute for the role of labour offices. It can just promote the scope of activities for which the labour offices have no personnel or financial capacities.
In border areas with high labour migration clients are interested in vacancies and specialised services on an everyday basis. The partnership and mainly its group activities broaden the population and coverage of clients attracted by employment services as well as the scope of the services.
Will the partnership assessment reflect the quality of employment services? In other words, will the partnership assessment depend on effectiveness of the labour offices?
How can the social partners directly influence the mediation effectiveness?

17. Thank you for your attention!