The impact of the European Social Fund: The RHOMOLO assessment

• The ESF is Europe's main instrument for supporting jobs, helping people get better jobs and ensuring fairer job opportunities for all EU citizens.
• The ESF includes 4 different thematic objectives aimed at promoting sustainable employment, social inclusion, education and the efficiency of the public administration.
• Policy simulations using the RHOMOLO dynamic CGE model show positive aggregate macro-economic effects of the ESF policy intervention.
• The ESF stimulates GDP and employment via increases in labour productivity, education and training, and additional demand-side effects.
• RHOMOLO is able to quantify the impact of the ESF in the EU as a whole as well as in each one of the 267 NUTS 2 EU regions. Less developed regions reap most of the benefits of ESF policy intervention.
• By 2030, the cumulative GDP impact of the ESF is larger than its cost, that is the ESF generates more than one euro for each euro spent in it.

Authors:

SAKKAS Stylianos, CONTE Andrea, SALOTTI Simone