Towards more inclusive social protection and active labour market policies in the EU: a social investment perspective

Work Package 5 of the Re-InVEST project – synthesised in this policy brief – applies the notion of social investment to the policy areas of social protection and active labour market policies. Both policies are wide-ranging in themselves, but so intimately connected that it is hard to examine them separately.

The European Commission’s Annual Growth Survey for 20192 and the accompanying Joint Employment Report3 reflect a strong social investment perspective, with a lot of attention for education and training, childcare, health care, targeted active labour market measures and integrated services for vulnerable groups. Yet, the discourse in these documents concerning social protection remains rather ambiguous, with no emphasis on better coverage or more decent benefit levels except for the guaranteed minimum income.

This policy brief argues that better social protection is necessary and does not trap people into dependency. It also questions the quality of active labour market policies and calls for a European quality framework in this area.