The impact of the ongoing transformations in the Labour Market, on the Social Policy complex: Consequences and policy challenges for the inclusion of socially vulnerable groups and migrants

The paper deals with the ongoing transformation in the Labour Market, including the effects of the “mega- trends” and the “permacrisis” and their impact on Social Policy, within the context of the public policy complex. Rapid transformations and trends such as intensification, are due on the one hand to the impact of the “permacrisis” (i.e. the 2008 Economic Crisis and Recession, the Pandemic and its social “cost”, the refugee-migrant Crisis and the current energy- inflation crisis) on employment and labour market, and on the other hand due to Mega-Trends that are taking place and seem to gradually prevail (e.g. globalization, digitalization, demographic and social changes, etc., according to the Eurofound, 2020). These Mega-Trends seem to have a clear impact on the structure of economy and labour market, including work relations, forms of employment and contracts types and, consequently, on social welfare systems in Europe. Both the permacrisis and the mega-trends, due to their impact on the labour market, seem to substantially affect the social inclusion of socially vulnerable groups, including migrants. Our research methodology is based on policy analysis, combined with historical insights and secondary quantitative data analysis (in order to map the current state-of-play). Given the abovementioned, the paper, initially, provides an overview of the dominant trends in the Labour Market (including the rising of the various forms of precarious work and its association with the social vulnerability), while addressing issues concerning job-polarization, labor market slack, NEETS, youth unemployment, long-term unemployment and migrants’ employability. Then, it proceeds in briefly (critically) examining the projections- forecasting on future skills and future jobs. Emphasis is laid, among others, in the association between active employment policies and training policy, within the framework of the rising “lego-flexibility” in Economy and Markets (in Sennett’s terms), while it attempts to cast the light on the association between the active employment policies and social policy, epically in terms of the social inclusion- integration of socially vulnerable groups, emphasizing migrants. There is no doubt that, at the international level, the socio-economic context is becoming more complex, creating new challenges for tackling social vulnerability, which is clearly associated with the changing Labour Market and the multi-level impact of the above-mentioned trends and transformations. Considering that the Welfare State and Social Policy aim, by definition, at promoting incentives through public policies that could contribute effectively and creatively to the effort of achieving social well-being and taking into account the ongoing transformations in the EU Migration Policy (since the onset of the 2015 Refugee-Migrant Crisis), it becomes crystal clear that new and persisting challenges are raised in terms of social policy. Thus, the paper further examines the way(s) Social Policy is affected by the ongoing transformations in the Labour Market and it casts the light on both the state-of-play and the existing and potential policy responses, in terms of a series of, Social Policy-related domains, such as Education Policy, Active Employment Policies, Welfare Policies and Migration Policy.