Inclusive labour markets

This edition of the CARES! poverty reports focuses on the challenges that should be urgently tackled at EU level to make labour markets more inclusive and accessible, based on Caritas Europa’s vision for sustainable social models.

The Caritas CARES! poverty reports are an ongoing series of reports that Caritas Europa produces biennially covering a particular social policy topic ranging from youth poverty to challenges accessing social services. They aim to support the advocacy efforts of Caritas at national and European levels, and endeavour to ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable members of society are heard.

The European report brings together, compares and analyses the data and trends of 18 national reports, based on grassroots realities. Building on Pillar II of Caritas Europa’s Social Model on inclusive labour markets for all – work as a source of well-being and on existing EU and Council of Europe processes, programmes and legal instruments, the report highlights the challenges that policymakers must address urgently in order to make European labour markets more inclusive. It also includes an overview of different measures being proposed at EU level to address these challenges and to respond to the lasting consequences of COVID-19, and concludes with Caritas’ policy recommendations for the European Commission and Member States, encouraging them to, among others:

• Adopt an EU-wide job guarantee;
• Introduce an EU framework directive on minimum income & ensure that social protection systems are inclusive and accessible to everyone;
• Prioritise the educational training, qualifications, and skilling of people in situations of vulnerability in order to improve their active participation in the labour market;
• Increase political will and public investment in labour inspections and judicial institutions to enforce existing rules and regulations around informal work;
• Recognise civil society organisations as official providers of tailored and inclusive employment and social services.