This book addresses and discusses the main guiding principles of employment and social security policies in Portugal, as well as their articulation over the last five decades. The focus is placed on two recent critical moments: the 2008 financial crisis and the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. To help understand the meaning of these changes, a pluralistic methodological strategy was chosen, capable of diagnosing a multiplicity of information from diverse sources. The results point in two directions. From a long-term perspective, although the evolutionary framework is marked more by continuities than by major disruptions, the period is traversed by moments of tension and alternation between policies, and punctuated by two movements: one towards social progress and the other towards social regression. Oscillating, but not necessarily chronological, these movements can coexist in the same cycles and legislatures. From a short-term perspective, it is observed that the response given to the two crises mentioned was different, as were their results. The country responded better to the pandemic crisis than to the financial crisis. Policies matter. However, the post-pandemic period is still uncertain, as is the recovery process.
Keywords: crises, social and employment policies, social (lack of) protection, activation, socioeconomic vulnerabilities.
Authors: Jorge Caleiras, Renato Miguel do Carmo
