Pledge 17 – Lille

Since Lille joined the EUROCITIES campaign, it has signed two pledges to the European Pillar of Social Rights. On 13 February 2019, the President of Lille Metropole, Damien Castelain, signed a pledge to provide active support to employment (principle 4), ensure equal opportunities (principle 3) and promote secure and adaptable employment (principle 5).

Lille Metropole will invest €5 million in 2019-2020 to provide active support to employment especially to the most vulnerable who have been long-term unemployed, create secure and adaptable jobs in the local economy and ensure equal opportunities for all inhabitants regardless of the area where they live.

To provide active support to employment, Lille Metropole is committed to:

• Double the municipal budget to deliver a metropolitan action plan for employment.
• Create a public employment service at the level of the metropolitan area.
• Set up a new team to manage the link between demand and offer for jobs and skills in sectors facing skills shortages (industry, IT, call centres, agri-business).

To ensure equal opportunities, Lille Metropole is committed to implement an action plan to boost the local economy in 26 deprived neighbourhoods (with 200,000 inhabitants) to provide sustainable employment by:

• Mobilising 200 business partners and 1,000 managers from local businesses and employment stakeholders to create 9,000 new jobs by 2023 in order to halve the gap in employment rates between deprived areas and the metropolitan level.
• Setting up a ‘Lille Metropole Entrepreneur Factory’ with 8 entrepreneurship resource centres to support the creation of new businesses in the most deprived neighbourhoods (information, counselling, banking mediation for start-ups).
• Setting up a ‘mobility platform’ with additional services complementary to the public transport network to help job seekers commute to their future employer.

To promote secure and adaptable employment, Lille Metropole is implementing a pilot project ‘Communities with no more long-term unemployment’, which is delivering:

• A job-oriented company ‘La Fabrique de l’Emploi’ was set up to hire 270 job-seekers who were long-term unemployed
• 130 jobs were created so far in 2 of the districts with highest level of long-term unemployment.
• In 2019, Lille Metropole will support with municipal funding the upscaling of the pilot to 5 new districts of the metropole.

The President of Lille Metropole, Damien Castelain, said: “More inclusive metropolitan areas are vital to ensure a stronger social Europe. Lille Metropole is committed to contributing to a more inclusive Europe by providing active support to employment, ensuring equal opportunities and promoting secure and adaptable employment”.