ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the meaning, development and operationalization of the activation trend across employment policies in Portugal. Adopting a sociological institutionalism and comparative approach, the chapter reconstructs the trajectory of active employment policies in one of the countries associated with the Southern European welfare state regime. The first research question aims to identify and operationalize the traits of an ‘occupation’ type of activation in employment policy. The second research question explores the extent to which Southern European welfare states’ typified features and institutional forms continue to determine the timing, shape and level of development of (more) active social policy. The discussion is informed by semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and the analysis of secondary data derived from organizations and institutional documents, legislation and official statistics.
Findings show that, apart from its singularities, the Portuguese case displays the weaknesses and inefficiencies of the Southern European model. A rhetorical/ideal compliance with the goal of enhancing jobseekers’ chances for a more successful (re)integration into the labour market is acknowledgeable, even though, at implementation level, structural fragilities persist. The risk of entrapment in low-quality jobs or occupations remains high due to a combination of institutional limits, historically entrenched practices and frames of reference, political choices and economic circumstances.
