Inclusive labour markets

Ending poverty & exclusion

Recent years have seen a gradual erosion in the general quality and security of employment across Europe.

This trend has led to an increase in job precarity, fewer social protections and persistent numbers of people facing in-work poverty.

COVID-19 and the current cost-of-living crisis have further pushed workers in already vulnerable situations in the labour market into even more precarity and placed them at greater risk of poverty.

Maria

I’ve been working for 10 years in precarious jobs. Currently, I have a contract in the frame of a municipal employment measure, but, for me, this is almost the same as being unemployed. My wage is €419 per month and I have three years of graduation studies, dozens of training courses taken, one year of migration in another country and 10 years of struggle. People like me are not considered and we become beneficiaries of professional internships, unpaid internships and endless employment measures. When we look for a “real” job, we hear things like: “We are looking for someone with more experience!”, “You are over qualified” or even “You have too much experience for your age!

Maria, 25,
From Coimbra, Portugal

The economic and social policies being pushed by most European politicians see employment as the best way to eradicate poverty.

However, the labour market created by today’s economy in Europe entails a number of poverty risks, especially when salaries are inadequate and insufficient to meet basic living costs, when working conditions are indecent and when the balance between work and family life is not taken into consideration.

New forms of employment, such as the gig economy (i.e., short-term and part-time employment of independent workers), are leading to further flexibility in the labour market but to the detriment of workers’ rights.

There is also an increasing tendency to offer temporary or precarious contracts, leaving workers without social protection in case of unemployment.
At the same time, many people in vulnerable situations struggle to access the labour market due to discrimination and prejudice because of their age, nationality, ethnicity, sex or disability.

There are clearly still too many gaps across Europe in the realisation of an inclusive labour market. Many legislative and policy initiatives do not go far enough in tackling the deep-rooted issues that prevent access to decent employment, while some measures are poorly implemented simply due to lack of political will.

Caritas Europa wants resilient European social models that provide for the well-being of all people.

To achieve this goal, governements must prioritise policies that tackle child and family poverty, while providing social protection and inclusive labour markets. This means creating decent jobs for all working age people, without discrimination, and the official recognition of people’s contributions to society through, for example, unpaid caring or volunteering.

Income security, primarily through decent wages, is essential to allow everyone, from young people entering the labour market for the first time to parents and those at the end of their careers, to successfully deal with the challenges life may throw at them.

Caritas Europa is therefore calling on all European governments to implement policies that will create more inclusive labour markets and will achieve the 2030 goal of decent work for everyone, reducing poverty and inequalities.

These policies should:

  • Protect the rights of all workers and fight exploitation, for example of undocumented workers;
  • Ensure an adequate minimum wage;
  • Ensure wage equality between women and men – equal pay for equal work;
  • Improve job security by limiting the use of short-term contracts;
  • Introduce or continue measures to support the transition between education and the labour market;
  • Provide, in particular for newly arrived migrants and others far from the labour market, employment counselling services to facilitate labour market participation and the transition between jobs;
  • Facilitate the recognition of skills and qualifications attained abroad;
  • Reduce long-term unemployment through initiatives such as a job guarantee;
  • Reduce the gap between the official and effective retirement age by adapting job content to the needs of older workers;
  • Support employment within not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises, making use of their job creation potential;
  • End discriminatory practices that pose barriers to labour market integration and upward career mobility;
  • Enable, support and recognise the value of family care work by:
    • ensuring the legal right to maternity leave of at least 15 weeks as well as parental leave of at least six months;
    • allowing a number of days per year of special leave for care work in the family (for children, elderly, the ill);
    • ensuring a minimum income during longer periods of leave for care work;
    • considering the time spent on care work as eligible for the calculation of pension rights.