Employment Committee (EMCO)
As the European Union's Employment Committee, EMCO advises ministers who represent the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on issues regarding coordination of employment and labour market policy at European and national level.
EMCO meetings take place almost every month of the year (with the exception of July and August). Its representatives are in regular contact with relevant stakeholders, such as social partners (trade unions and employers), the network of public employment services, the OECD and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).
EMCO also cooperates with other committees, such as the Social Protection Committee (SPC), the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) and the Education Committee, to address issues of shared interest.
Each member state is represented by two officials who are split into sub-groups:
- The Policy Analysis Group (PAG) provides evidence-based advice to underpin EMCO work and debate.
- The Indicators Group (IG) carries out the technical work on the indicators that are used in monitoring the EU employment strategy.
According to the priorities set by the European Council, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission, EMCO adopts a work programme for each year. The Employment Committee's work programme covers four main areas:
- The European Semester (including multilateral surveillance);
- Thematic work;
- Benchmarking;
- Monitoring and reporting.