PATHS2INCLUDE developing inclusive labour markets for persons in vulnerable situations

Disentangling the dimensions of discrimination in the labour market to gain knowledge on developing inclusive labour markets for persons in vulnerable situations.

PATHS2INCLUDE European Labour Market Under Pressure – New Knowledge on Pathways to Include Persons in Vulnerable Situations, is a European project, financed under the Horizon 2030 Research and Innovation Programme, that aims to discover the importance of intersectionality related to how context puts people in vulnerable positions. The research project focuses on three central labour market processes:

1. recruitment
2. career trajectories
3. work exit

in addition to predict vulnerability risk factors in the future of work. The project is implemented by an interdisciplinary consortium of seven research institutions and one European civil society organisation from 8 European countries, among which ARCO’s Inclusive Development Unit has been involved.

The context

Despite economic growth in several European countries and an increasingly diverse workforce, many social groups, such as women, immigrants, people with disabilities, sexual minorities and older workers, continue to be vulnerable to discrimination and disadvantaged in the labour market. The experience of temporary exclusion from the labour market heightens the risk of long-term unemployment and economic inactivity.

The challenge of developing evidence-based policy responses to overcome discrimination for an inclusive labour market belongs to interlinked and mutually supporting social protection and employment policies. As an extension of this, the main ambition of PATHS2INCLUDE is to expand the understanding of the multidimensional aspects of labour market discrimination, the impact of different policy frameworks, the gaps and possible need for change on various levels in order to detect mechanisms and processes that shape barriers or facilitate inclusive labour markets.

The project

Project partners will use various empirical strategies to study these processes and precarious work situations to deliver new knowledge on best practice for labour market inclusion. The consortium will employ a harmonized cross-national factorial survey experiment and qualitative interviews with employers to gain a better understanding of why and under which contextual conditions barriers are shaped, and how to develop inclusive practices. Moreover, researchers will use available harmonized data sets, namely European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and the European Labour Force Survey (EU LFS), to conduct comparative quantitative analyses and microsimulations to generate best practices that promote inclusion, upward convergence in employment and decent work for persons in vulnerable situations.

Moreover, 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.

ARCO’s contribution

Assessing the determinants of labour market inclusion for vulnerable European citizens: an eco-systemic and multi-level approach

The D7.1 working paper tiled “Assessing the determinants of labour market inclusion for vulnerable European citizens: an eco-systemic and multi-level approach” by  Arianna Vivoli, Mario Biggeri, Federico Ciani (Inclusive Development Unit), Leonardo Grilli (University of Florence), Sara Ayllòn (Univeristy of Girona), Robin Samuels and Ona Valls Casas (Univeristy of Luxembourg) sheds light on the multidimensional and multilevel articulation of the social and economic mechanisms that shape individual’s access to the job market and employment barriers. The study offers new empirical insights into the determinants of labour market participation and employment across EU member states, with a specific focus on the experiences of vulnerable groups. By leveraging an extremely comprehensive dataset, spanning 28 countries over 13 years, with a NUTS1/NUTS2 disaggregation, and employing a three-level multilevel model, we provide an in-depth analysis of how individual and contextual factors, and their interactions, shape labour market dynamics in the EU.

One of the key contributions of our work is the understanding of how individual characteristics, such as gender, long-lasting illness, and caregiving responsibilities, often predictors of higher risk of marginalisation on the job market, can have heterogenous effects varying according to the economic context in which individuals live.

Another interesting contribution emerging from our results is how some of the predictors of both activity and employment, at both individual and contextual levels, as well as their interactions, have different effects on activity compared to employment. This implies that tailored policies are needed for each of these two dimensions: to promote employment, it is necessary to first promote activity, but the pathways leading to the two outcomes may not necessarily overlap.

By recognizing and addressing the complex interplay of individual vulnerabilities and regional economic conditions, future labour market interventions can more effectively promote inclusion and social cohesion across the European Union.

The partners