Social protection and labour market policies for vulnerable groups from a social investment perspective. The case of young NEETs in Espinho, Portugal (RE-InVEST working paper series D5.1)
Creators: name: Costa, G.
name: Araújo, S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: social protection
labour market policy
social inclusion
social investment
activation
Youth Guarantee
social policy

description: This report was prepared within the framework of the Europe H2020 project ‘Rebuilding an inclusive, value based Europe of solidarity and trust through social investments’ (RE-InVEST). The project RE-InVEST aims to contribute to a more solidary and trust worthy Europe, through an inclusive, powerful and effective social investment strategy at EU-level. Moreover, the project itself adopts a participative approach that lends a voice to vulnerable groups and civil society organisations. The RE-InVEST consortium consists of mem­bers of informal network ‘the Alliances to fight Poverty’, a network of civil society organisations, trade unions, policy makers and academics co-ordinated by Flemish Cristian labour movement ‘beweging.net, and committed to a more inclusive Europe. The consortium covers a broad range of European countries, both geographically (12 countries, 13 regions) and in terms of representation of different welfare and labour market traditions. In particular, this report aims to assess the role of active labour market policies (ALMPs) and social protection from a social investment perspective.

The evaluation of national/regional policies has been carried out through participatory qualitative research from the perspective of the most vulnerable groups. Mixed focus groups were created in seven countries (Austria, Belgium, England, France, Latvia, Portugal and Switzerland) between September 2016 and June 2017. The analyses were carried out by the local partners, consisting of NGOs and/or researchers.

The fact that the focus of the Portuguese research paper is on the young unemployed is attributable to unemployment remaining a major problem among young people aged between 18-29 years old. Despite the slight improvement of economic and social indicators in Portugal, this aspect stills requires careful attention, as new entrants to the labour market, young people face serious difficulties to get a job. This is mostly exacerbated when they do not receive any kind of social protection and particularly when they are coerced into accepting job offers. Young people in precarious employment face higher job insecurity and uncertainty about the future, which are relevant negative factors affecting their ability to make life plans and establish their goals in line with reasonable expectations about upcoming opportunities.

This group has been so severely hit by the economic crisis and so it is a great concern and a top priority[1] among EU Member States. Youth Guarantee (YG) as a recent and innovative programme aims to give a response to youth unemployment.

This report examines the extent to which the young unemployed (18 to 29 years) obtain a response from YG to their needs and whether these measures are articulated with social protection policies or not, in other words if they invest in social needs.

The RE-InVEST consortium has jointly developed the PAHRCA – a methodology that combines prin­ciples of Participatory Action research with Human Rights and Capability Approaches. This qualitative, participatory research does not produce representative results but rather aims to deepen the understanding of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) and Social Protection (SP) impacts on the lives of vulnerable people and give them a voice.

 

[1]   In the 2015 Annual Growth Survey, the Commission called for determined action to improve the labour market situation of young people, with the Youth Guarantee representing an ambitious way of combining different instruments to address youth unemployment effectively. Thematic fiche youth unemployment European Semester (European Commission, 2015).