Indicators as a Source of Expertise in EU Governance: A Critical Analysis of the Creation and Impact of Indicators in EU Employment Policy

This paper centres on the creation and impact of indicators in the governance of European Union (EU) employment policy. Indicators have a long history as part of the EU employment policy; however, over recent years, additional multilateral surveillance instruments have been introduced under the auspices of the “new” European semester system, namely the Joint Assessment Framework and the Employment Performance Monitor, and more recently the Scoreboard of key employment and social indicators. The introduction of these instruments under a new governance architecture invites a revived attention to one of the lesser-studied elements of employment policy. This paper draws insights from the growing international scholarship on indicators as a governance technology, which addresses the appearance of new types of expertise and new statistical actors in the policy-making process. Indicators are understood, in the first instance, to focus and galvanise political attention and associated resources around a particular issue, e.g. level of unemployment or social inequality. More specifically, in a soft law process in the EU, indicators aim to facilitate comparison across member states, as a precursor to policy learning and the sharing of good practice. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with European policy actors, this paper responds to two questions. Firstly, how were these indicators developed? This question explores the types of expertise and the processes of participation behind the creation of these indicators. This acknowledges the highly political nature of indicators despite their technocratic appearance, and the important role of statistics agencies that accompany an increased use of indicators. Secondly, what effects do these indicators have on policy-making? This uncovers the impact of indicators (as a governance technology) on decision-making in EU employment policy. In particular, it addresses the way in which this type of expertise interacts with other types of expertise in the shaping of policy decisions.