Transforming European Work and Social Protection: A New Proactive Welfare State Fit for the Future World of Work (TransEuroWorkS)
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Objective of the practice:
Develop sustainable, inclusive, and mobile social protection systems across Europe that respond to the challenges of digitalisation, workforce internationalisation, and the green economy transition, promoting a more cohesive, equal, inclusive and green future for European citizens.
Subtopics of the practice:
Conduct field experiments to evaluate the impact of participating in digital skills training programs on labour market outcomes, psychological well-being, and political integration, ensuring that European workers are equipped with the necessary skills to adapt to the labour market transformations driven by AI, digitalisation and automation, and the transition towards a green economy. Advice active labour market policies that provide workers with essential skills for the labour market. Address the gap in rigorous evaluations of digital skills training programs in Europe.
Geographical scope of the practice:
Europe
Short summary of the practice:
The TransEuroWorkS project aims to conduct a field experiment that evaluates the impact of participating in digital skills training programs on labour market outcomes, psychological well-being, and political integration.
Detailed information on the practice:
The primary goal of the practice is to support the EU’s objective of digitising European economies. It focuses on helping workers adapt to changing labour markets and facilitating job transitions, especially for those facing unemployment. The idea for this practice originated from the need to fill the gap in the evaluation of digital skills training programs in European contexts. Since the implementation of the project, several key outcomes have been achieved. In the first year, the team conducted 12 interviews with experts and key policy providers of digital skills training programs in Catalonia. They also presented their findings to four experts in field experiments and participated in a session at the Catalan Agency of Policy Evaluation (I-Vàlua) to receive feedback on the design. Additionally, the team prepared essential fieldwork materials, including a questionnaire, consent forms, participant payment documentation, contracts compliant with privacy regulations, a pre-analysis plan, and an ethics document currently under revision. They collaborated on a survey experiment and conducted a pre-test, with results documented as a working paper on their website. Furthermore, they engaged with the main service provider in Catalonia, SOC (Servei d’Ocupació de Catalunya), to identify collaborative opportunities for providing digital skills training to women in rural areas. The practice contributes to long-term sustainability through three key aspects: 1) Environmental Sustainability: it helps adapt labour markets to the green transition and the increasing demand for green jobs and skills. 2) Political Sustainability: it promotes cohesive implementation of decarbonization processes by addressing the diverse welfare policy preferences among citizens to understand the political consensus around the welfare state and social protection. 3) Budgetary Sustainability: it supports inclusive decarbonization policies that consider environmental justice, ensuring that greater responsibility lies with those industries that most contribute to climate change while simultaneously creating new revenue mechanisms to finance this transition.
Resources needed:
Total cost: € 2 637 258,75; EU contribution: € 2 637 258,75
Results achieved:
Establish the connection between the three major labour market transitions (green transition, digitalisation and the internationalisation of the workforce) and the internationalisation of the workforce, in order to understand new labour market risks and address them successfully though new protection schemes. Collect new data and information through individual-level surveys (experiments), interviews, and the revision of existing EU legislation and political documents for proving a framework of shifts in employment risks in European economies and new social protection needs that they imply. Propose potential new pathways for policy adjustments that address gaps in existing EU protection schemes and align with the new policy needs of the workforce in transitioned labour markets.
Potential for learning:
This practice is potentially interesting for other regions due to its potential to address the complex challenges provided by digitalisation, automation, and the transition to a green economy. The project examines critical policy areas such as unemployment, retraining, gender equality, and family policies across 27 EU member states and 2 non-EU countries. Its multi-level, comparative, and mixed-methods design combines conventional protection policies with contemporary social investment strategies, allowing for a detailed understanding of social diversity. By focusing on skill transferability and its impact on labour market risk, the project provides valuable insights into public attitudes towards climate policies. The project’s findings and methodologies can be used as a model for regions facing similar socio-economic transformations, promoting a more cohesive and inclusive response to the evolving labour market.
Further information:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101061198
Keywords:
Digitalisation, Green Transition, Immigration, Free Movement, Atypical Work, Flexible Employment, Socio-economic Inequality, Job Transitions, Work-life Balance, Retraining, Subjective Well-being
