Un nuovo legame con il lavoro del welfare (post) pandemico

Tracing the direction that pandemic consequences will take is a gamble. Notwithstanding, it is widespread the perception that we are facing a new historical divide. In this perspective and considering the sphere of European welfare policies (especially social and labor market policies), we wonder if the pandemic crisis could serve as a lever for a path deviation from the activation paradigm preeminent since the 1990s in Europe: could the pandemic, as exogenous shock, turn back the hands of time to compensatory welfare, based on passive income transfers instead of active measures? To face the COVID-19 outbreak’s economic consequences, most of the European countries provided immediate financial and income supports to citizens, workers, families and companies, and in many cases, job-search conditionality requirements and sanctions for non-compliance were temporarily lifted for welfare benefit recipients. Moreover, the debate on basic income schemes, totally unconditioned, gained momentum in the political arena. In so doing, a new light was shaded on the relationship between work and welfare that features the modern social protection system. Are these the premises for a new deal?