European Social Fund and Labor Market Policy

Since 1995, moneys from the European Social Fund (ESF) have been used in Austria to support labor market policy measures. The ESF's brief is to foster structural change by promoting employment and developing human resources. As the European Union handles its financial involvement in the labor market policies of its member states solely through the ESF, it can thus exercise more influence on national strategies through the ESF than within the scope of other Community activities in the field of employment, social and labor market policies. Interventions by the ESF are underpinned by the concept of individual employability, an approach that nevertheless makes up just one of the pillars of the European employment and labor market strategy.