RECWOWE – Reconciling Work and Welfare in Europe

The Research project implemented by the Network of Excellence RECWOWE has come to its end. It was conducted by Bruno Palier, as scientific coordinator (CEE-Sciences Po/CNRS) and Denis Bouget as general coordinator (Université de Nantes, MSH Nantes) and funded by the European Commission in the framework of PCRD. Its paramount objective was to study relationships between work and welfare in order to elaborate strategies for managing and resolving the multiple tensions between them.

It led to design proposals which may be used by the national and European decision-making bodies. It also served to the constitution of a ‘virtual institute’ of expertise and producted a significant scientific and teaching material.

Thanks to this collective work, four main tensions have been identified:

1. Tensions between a call for more flexibility on the labour market and a need for security for citizens;
2. Tensions between work and family life, increased fluidity in family patterns and enhanced flexibility in employment patterns and relationships;
3. Tensions between the number of jobs created and their quality;
4. ensions induced by the development of « employment-friendly” welfare reforms, i.e. the political tensions created by the difficulties in matching industrial welfare systems to the requirements of creating post-industrial jobs

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