Study on integrated delivery of social services aiming at the activation of minimum income recipients in the labour market - success factors and reformpathways

The rising flexibility of labour markets calls the integration of unemployment insurance, minimum income schemes (MIS) and social services for working-age social-benefit recipients. In most EU-countries, this would entail complex institutional reforms, as social and employment policies are coordinated by separate ministries and implemented by a variety of institutions which are often operating at different levels of government. The need for such reforms has already been highlighted by the European Commission’s Social Investment Package (SIP).

The study outlines two reform pathways:

1. the integration of services by major institutional changes, such as mergers of independent agencies and change in the distribution of tasks between the state and local government.
2. a more or less institutionalised cooperation, embedded in the existing institutional setting.

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