New Toolkit Highlights Role of Public Employment Services to Include Vulnerable Groups in the Green Economy

New Toolkit Highlights Role of Public Employment Services to Include Vulnerable Groups in the Green Economy

The continuing shift towards a greener economy is expected to have a major impact on skills requirements, requiring Public Employment Services (PES) – national agencies that connect job-seekers with employers – to assist with the development of new skillsets and adapt skills as well as support for workers, jobseekers and employers to make the green transition of the labour market a reality.

To provide PES with practical guidance and promote skills development for the green transition, the European Commission published in July 2025 the Toolkit “PES support to green skills and jobs: From commitment to practical steps and strategies”. The toolkit includes:

• Section 1: PES strategies in relation to the green transition and definitions on green jobs. 
• Section 2: The identification of green skills. 
• Section 3: Design of PES services for the labour force. 
• Section 4: PES activities for employers. 

One of the impacts of the green transition on PES services identified included the need for integrating more vulnerable groups and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds into the labour market by providing access to adult learning, focused on upskilling and reskilling, in the green economy as well as providing support (through vocational guidance and counselling) to attract more women into green jobs, in particular in STEM fields related to green jobs.

PES services for the labour force included in the toolkit are (i) training for the green transition, (ii) targeted active labour market programmes for workers at risk of becoming unemployed and tools to help with career transition, (iii) as well as support for jobseekers, including vulnerable groups and NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training). 

However, it is underlined that, although job creation programmes target disadvantaged groups, with a focus on projects that are socially and environmentally useful, without competing with the regular labour market, there are limited examples of the use of employment incentives for vulnerable groups specifically in the green economy. This is due to the fact that green jobs require skills at a medium and high-level qualification, which vulnerable groups often do not possess, and also due to a lack of recording by the PES of such programmes as incentives for green jobs – employment incentives used in the green economy, for example facilitating the labour market transition of specific groups such as young people or older people, may not be recorded by the PES as a specific employment incentive(s) for green jobs. 

Furthermore, the toolkit notes the importance for PES of cooperating with key stakeholders such as employers, sectoral organisations, training institutions and municipalities to include disadvantaged groups in the labour market.

PES Toolkit on Green Skills and Jobs available here.