Bereich: Arbeit & Chancengleichheit

This report presents six case studies on social innovations that address labour market integration and empowerment of marginalised groups  in the context of varied welfare states and regimes. Cases address the labour market inclusion of people with disabilities or mental health challenges, an innovative rehab programme for burnout sufferers, the support and empowerment of women in a rural area in Serbia by an ensemble of modular and tailored services, and advocacy for regularising the employment of migrant live-in carers and against the use of payment cards to deliver benefit payments to asylum seekers. Cases are located in Poland, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Austria and Germany, and thus in Eastern, Southern and Continental European welfare and growth regimes. The comparative chapter explores the ways in which social innovations articulate and process the megatrends of globalisation, digitalisation, demographic change and climate change, and how social innovations themselves achieve impacts in the contexts of the labour market, the welfare state, and society at large. It concludes that social innovations can be distinguished along their aspirations that range from “repairing” or filling gaps in welfare states to systemic or transformational change. However, in their actual strategy and practice, navigating the institutional and political environment, the different types share a considerable middle ground of incremental progress, providing immediate support to target groups or constituencies, building knowledge and ecosystems, negotiating and debating with policy, and raising societal awareness.

The report is available HERE.

AutorInnen: Bruckmayer, M., Holtgrewe, U., Wolter, S., Sonja Avlijaš, Zuzanna Kowalik, Martin Lange, Karolien Lenaerts, Sarah McNamara, Cristiano Perugini, Antonio Picciotti, Fabrizio Pompei, Anna Sobierańska, Holger Stichnoth, Laurène Thil

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• Projekt: Welfare systems and labour market policies for economic and social resilience in Europe

Tags: inclusion, labour market, social innovation, social policy, welfare