Engaging workplaces: A social partners perspective on youth activation

This project seeks to answer this question by expanding the ways in which employment and work inclusion policies are designed.

In particular, we seek to import one of the key features of the Norwegian welfare model – namely dialogue between social partners – into the domain of labour market policy design.

The project will generate much-needed empirical knowledge of current work inclusion practices nationwide, notably in terms of how such practices manifest in low-income segments of the labour market, and it will pay special attention to the work inclusion of vulnerable young jobseekers.

It will then engage social partners in collaborative dialogue geared towards organisational workplace reforms that will substantially improve the recruitment and retainment of vulnerable young jobseekers.

Objectives

The primary objective of this project is twofold:

1. to generate much-needed empirical knowledge of current work inclusion practices directed at vulnerable, young
   jobseekers nationwide, notably in terms of how such practices manifest in low-income segments of the labour
   market
2. to engage social partners in collaborative dialogue geared towards organisational workplace reforms that forge
   both efficient and equitable means of including vulnerable young jobseekers.

Secondary objectives:

1. to shed novel empirical light on the design and workings of active labour market policies today
2. to identify the signal features of workplaces that help or hinder the successful and sustainable inclusion of
   vulnerable youth
3. to translate the project's empirical findings into solution-oriented policy proposals and disseminate these to key
   stakeholders, in Norway and beyond.

Outcomes and impacts

The outcome will be to develop policy suggestions that can reconfigure current ALMP, and thereby improve the work inclusion potential of workplaces.

The project holds substantial potential for real societal impact as its findings have major policy implications with respect to work inclusion processes in an era of rapid economic and demographic change.

These potential impacts will be realised through synergistic interactions between a competent research team and a high-profile and well-connected group of project collaborators; the social partners LO and NHO.