SocialBoost- Effective measures of social harmonization as a boost for employability in times of demographic changes

Project Description

The overall objective of this project is to raise awareness of society about the concept and concrete manifestations of social harmonization, and its impact on the labor market outcomes of the elderly in Europe. In particular, the project aims at increasing knowledge on the issue of social harmonization and building cross-border co-operation around the topic in Central and Eastern European countries as well as Baltic States- countries which experience common difficulties on their labor markets (rapid population ageing, or brain drain of young people). In order to reach the objectives, we intend to discuss and build common assumptions for the definition of social harmonization. The creation of specific assumptions and elements of the concept at European level will be based on the experience and good practices from Nordic countries, and the Nordic Welfare Model in particular.

Based on that we will econometrically test how the specific combinations of social harmonization affect the labor market participation of the elderly, as well as their employment and wages. The scientific results will constitute a base for in-depth national debates organized through four Social Harmonization Forums in the countries of the project's partners. Their aim is to stimulate the discussion on the issue, raise awareness of individuals, share findings of our analysis, strengthen collaboration between stakeholders on both national and regional levels and bring civic engagement in the debate. Conclusions from the Forums, as well as findings from the scientific report, together with policy recommendations, will be summarized in policy briefs prepared by the project's partners. We strongly believe that our dissemination and communication activities, supported by scientific research, will strengthen the knowledge of a broad range of individuals on social harmonization and deepen further co-operation activities between the project's partners and the participants in the future.

The particular objectives of the projects are as following:

- Generate a concrete definition of the concept of social harmonization and its mechanisms based on the Nordic Welfare Model;

- Create different scenarios of the ways the concept of social harmonization can be developed;

- Analyze the impact of these scenarios on the changes in the labor market outcomes of the elderly in European countries, gender perspective included;

- Organize a series of Social Harmonization Forums in the Partner countries, where the unique opportunity will be offered not only for decision-makers at regional and local level, but also for NGOs and seniors’ associations, researchers and academics, to share knowledge, recognize and disseminate good practices from the Nordic countries, and discuss policy challenges related to social harmonization and population ageing;

- Prepare national policy-briefs, where the results of our scientific findings and the outcomes of the

Forums will be summarized and broadly disseminated through our network.

Sponsor:

Nordic Council of Ministers´ Support Program for Non-Governmental Organisations in the Baltic Sea Region 2015

Partners:

ETLA

BICEPS - The Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies

The International Educational NGO ACT