On 27 June 2023, EFSI held its General Meeting. On this occasion, EFSI members welcome two news members and they had the opportunity to exchange with CEDEFOP on skills and employability.

Last week, EFSI General Assembly welcomes the Bundesverband für häusliche Betreuung und Pflege (VHBP) as new Associate member as well as the Fédération des Services à la Personne et de Proximité (Fédésap) as Full member. 

EFSI is proud to support VHBP, the German association of live-in care placement agencies and services users in its mission to help elderly and sick people live a comfortable life in their homes with the help of live-in professional caregivers.

Likewise, EFSI is glad to support Fédésap action at EU-level and to benefit from its input and analysis related to the French market. Since 2007, Fédésap has been driven by its mission to organise PHS professionals, make formal employment more competitive than undeclared work, raise awareness and recognise PHS workers’ skills by building genuine career paths, as well as to offer quality service tailored to customers’ needs.

Furthermore, during the General Meeting EFSI members had the opportunity to exchange with Ilias Livanos, expert at CEDEFOP in the Department for Skills and Labour Market.

In his preliminary remarks, Ilias Livanos presented the main outcomes of the Skills Forecast which provides comprehensive information on future labour market trends in Europe. In other words, the forecast acts as an early warning mechanism to help alleviating potential labour market imbalances by using a common methodological approach with the aim to offer cross-country comparisons about employment trends in sectors, occupations, and qualifications.

By analyzing the supply, the demand for future skills and implications for skills imbalances, it turned out that the PHS occupations are listed among those which are more likely to be affected by labour shortage in the future. In particular, personal care and personal service jobs were cited among skilled non-manual occupations, while cleaners and helpers among elementary occupations.

In the debate that followed, EFSI’s members discussed more in depth about potential measures that could be adopted to address the labour shortages, retain and attract workers to the sector. They also highlighted the necessity of a comprehensive approach tackling various issues such as the reduction of undeclared work, professionalisation as well as smoothening the bureaucratic burden for migrant workers.