PATHS2INCLUDE will provide new, gender-sensitive, comparative knowledge-base on effective employment policies targeted at developing inclusive labour markets for persons in vulnerable situations in Europe. The study will examine the importance of intersectionality related to how context creates vulnerability, by focusing on three central labour-market processes: recruitment; career trajectories; and work exit. Through the involvement of national and European stakeholders, PATHS2INCLUDE aims to develop proposals for effective policies and to inform relevant policymakers with a view to maximising the project’s impact from a societal as well as scientific perspective. The project will combine diverse methods, data and disciplines (economics, political science and sociology) in innovative ways: (1) harmonised factorial survey experiment combined with qualitative interview studies with employers in four European countries (DE, NO, PL and RO); (2) causal analyses of comparative microdata; (3) microsimulation analysis exploiting the EUROMOD infrastructure. Linking the analyses of these data and the three central labour-market processes, will give original insights on how institutional and contextual factors shape barriers or mitigate risk of labour-market attachment among persons in vulnerable situations. These insights could include cross-national differences in employment-protection legislations and facilitation of care, regional differences in demand for labour, differences at company level related to the size of the firm, flexibilities in job tasks, and conditions that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, covering unemployment rates and infection-control measures across different segments of the labour market. The project will be implemented by an interdisciplinary consortium of seven research institutions and one European civil society organisation. The consortium has a balanced composition in terms of gender, stage of the career and area of expertise.

The project SkiLMeeT (Skills for labour markets in the digital and green transition) has three main objectives: 1) generate data and indicators which quantify the extent of labour and skills shortages and mismatch in Europe; 2) explore the drivers of these gaps and shortages, with a focus on the digital and green transitions; 3) analyse and identify pathways to reduce skill gaps and shortages. SkiLMeeT advances the knowledge how the work programme’s main goals can be achieved: to equip the workforce with the demanded skills, to encourage successfully the necessary reskilling and upskilling of the workforce and ultimately to realise the full potential of the digital and green transitions for Europe as a whole. To achieve these aims, SkiLMeeT builds on an inter- and transdisciplinary approach bringing together quantitative and qualitative methods. The combination of in-depth case studies and broad analyses of European economies using a rich variety of data sources ranging from survey and administrative data to big data provides highly valuable complementary insights into the nature of shortages, their drivers and pathways out. The indicators created are transparent and easily accessible. The analyses of drivers and pathways are conducted both for all European countries and for particularly relevant example countries. To validate the quantitative analyses, to explore mechanisms and to identify particularly promising pathways, we engage in extensive consultations and set up feedback loops with the research community, especially with relevant international and national research initiatives, and with stakeholders. The stakeholder consultations help to develop concrete policy proposals aimed at a thriving economy and an inclusive society. To maximise SkilMeeT’s impact, we disseminate the project’s indicators and insights, as well as concrete policy proposals to policymakers, stakeholders and the public.

Four megatrends - technological transformations, globalisation, climate warming and demographic changes - reshape labour markets, redefine opportunities and risks, and pose new challenges for welfare states in the EU. WeLaR aims to fill knowledge gaps about these processes by pursuing two main goals: (i) provide a comprehensive and comparative diagnosis of the effects on megatrends on labour market risks and challenges for welfare states; (ii) develop policy recommendations to adapt welfare states. WeLaR contributes to the destination’s goal of promoting inclusive growth, fair distribution of its productivity gains, and boosting economic and social resilience. In measuring effects, we account for interactions between megatrends, and disentangle their impacts of on labour supply, labour demand, and labour market allocations, which are also shaped by institutions. We pay particular attention to groups that often face higher labour market risks: women, young workers, people in atypical jobs or in in-work poverty. In developing policy proposals, we combine simulations with lessons from recent welfare state interventions and social innovation experiments, while accounting for political economy of reforms. We use an interdisciplinary approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods and adopts a cross-country perspective, covering the entire EU, which allows us to understand the role of country-specific institutional settings for the effects of megatrends and challenges for welfare states. To ensure relevance of policy ideas, we engage in extensive consultations and set up feedback loops with stakeholders, which complement and validate the quantitative and qualitative studies. These stakeholder consultations help to develop concrete policy proposals aimed at resilient, inclusive growth. We deliver research papers and policy briefs. To maximise WeLaR’s impact, we disseminate the lessons learned and policy proposals to policy-makers, stakeholders and the public.