Work integration social enterprises as a transformational model for improving labour market outcomes for low-skilled young unemployed in Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark

What is the value of work integration social enterprises in facilitating transitions to regular work for low-skilled young unemployed people in different advanced economies? Social enterprises are becoming increasingly... [ view full abstract ]

What is the value of work integration social enterprises in facilitating transitions to regular work for low-skilled young unemployed people in different advanced economies? Social enterprises are becoming increasingly important for the social policy goals of governments around the world. The maturity of the social enterprise sector varies in different developed countries, as do support to social enterprises from public and private funders and the degree to which they are formally recognised as a different operating model for business goals or for social goals.

Many social enterprises have been set up with the specific aim of employing people judged to be experiencing some type of ‘distance’ to the labour market, to provide them with some form of vocational development or other classical ‘human capital’ investment, and to offer personal development that is not directly work focused (e.g. social skill development, help with practical barriers) but helps to build future employability.

These work integration social enterprises (WISEs) vary in a number of ways that can make them potentially difficult to compare across countries. This study aims to determine the drivers of the value that WISEs bring by comparing a selected group of WISEs based on different characteristics of WISE models following Davister et al. (2004). These WISEs are then ‘realistically’ evaluated on the effectiveness of their attempts at labour market reintegration. WISEs are chosen from Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark. Building on the work of Nyssens (2006) and Defourny, and of Borzaga, this research will focus on a particular set of social enterprises in different institutional contexts. In terms of the tools approaches used, it is expected that effective and value-adding WISEs take a holistic ‘case management’ approach to their workers whereby they engage a range of tools tailored to the needs of each employee to increase individual employability.

In terms of social enterprise operating, the financing of training and guidance accessible to WISEs and the diversity of income streams not only guide their activities but are also critical to the viability and sustainability of their business models, and hence to the successful transitions of their employees into regular work. Despite an increasing recognition of the potential of social enterprises to achieve social policy goals and work integration in particular, many governments have not seriously engaged with the social enterprise sector nor thought much about how they might tweak or indeed create policy specifically relevant to it. Where governments have done so, the results could be of significant interest to other governments in their attempts to advance social policy goals.

In a climate of decentralisation and cost reduction, social enterprises could be an important tool for governments in leveraging more local solutions to national social policy problems. With this comes the importance of local relationships for WISEs to be successful in reintegrating their employees. It is hence further expected that effective WISEs are also well connected to the bodies that provide finance and those that determine their requirements.

Do, then, these characteristics of reintegration methods and financing and accountability relationships enable WISEs to be a highly value-adding investment for modern labour market reintegration policy? The outcomes could have important implications for public policy development in different countries seeking to learn from the trials and experiences of others.


Davister, C., Defourny, J. and Gregoire, O. (2004). WISE Integration Social Enterprises in the European Union: An Overview of Existing Models. EMES Working Paper 04/04

Nyssens, M. (Ed.) (2006). Social Enterprise - At the Crossroads of Market, Public Policies and Civil Society. London and New York: Routledge