At the start of the Eighties there was a real change in Luxembourg’s policy on combating unemployment. Support for “needy” persons, which until then had largely been provided by religious communities and other charitable institutions, was increasingly taken on by a policy which promoted the prevention of unemployment and reintegration into the world of work. The private sector left the responsibility to the public authorities and pressured them into responding ever more precisely to the phenomenon, in order in fact to undertake measures that responded to their own needs. However, improving the “employability” of the individual had the consequence that he or she became culpable for their economic situation and his or her democratic rights to participate in political and economic life were curtailed. In parallel, private institutions to fight unemployment were established, roughly following the logic of the above approaches, without challenging their dependency on public financing.
This is the context in which “Objectif plein employ” started. To read more about the development of the solidarity economy in Luxembourg, OPE and it’s results, please download the article.