The Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) pursues policy and legislative and financial initiatives designed to build a highly competitive social market economy in the European Union. The European Pillar of Social Rights is the EU social strategy to ensure that the transitions to climate neutrality, digitalisation and demographic change are socially fair and just. By implementing the pillar, DG EMPL aims to create more and better jobs, promote skills and vocational education and training, improve the functioning of the labour markets, fight inequalities, confront poverty and social exclusion, modernise social protection systems including pensions, health and long-term care, facilitate the free movement of workers, promote workers’ rights, health and safety at work, and protect against discrimination in the work place, as well as uphold the rights of persons with disabilities.

The 2022 Management Plan is the third in a series of five plans reflecting the ambitions set in the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. It presents DG EMPL’s key outputs and activities for the year and explains how these outputs will contribute to the attainment of its specific objectives and, consequently, to the achievement of Commission’s general objectives derived from the political agenda of President von der Leyen. It is focused on implementing the recovery plan, NextGenerationEU and the green and digital transitions. DG EMPL’s main new policy initiatives for 2022, as set out in the Commission Work Programme, are:

• Communication to strengthen the social dialogue at EU and national level;
• Protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work (proposal for amending the Asbestos at Work Directive);
• Launch of ALMA (Aim, Learn, Master, Achieve) initiative for youth;
• European care strategy - Communication on a European care strategy, accompanied by a proposal for a Council Recommendation on the revision of the Barcelona targets and a proposal for a Council Recommendation on long-term care;
• Proposal for a Council Recommendation on minimum income.