Stephanie Steinmetz on "Labour market inequalities in Europe"

Stephanie Steinmetz is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Lausanne and Amsterdam where she is a member of the Life Course and Inequality Centre (LIVES) and FORS. Her research focuses on educational and labour market vulnerabilities from a cross-national and intersectional perspective. Currently, she is the PI of PROFEM a European Research Council (ERC, 2022-2027) approved project and Co-PI of the HORIZON Europe project EQUALSTRENGTH (2023-2026) both focusing on (female) immigrant’s integration and experiences of discrimination in host societies. In addition, she is Co-PI of the Swiss SNF project CovidGen which focuses on the consequences of the COVID measures on youth wellbeing in Switzerland. Moreover, she is Secretary General of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), which collects comparative survey data in over 40 countries worldwide. Her work has been published in international journals such as the European Sociological Review, Work, Employment and Society, Social Forces, Comparative Social Research, the International Journal of Comparative Sociology and Social Politics.

Description of the webinar:

In “risk” or “uncertain” societies, vulnerability is a growing concern for individuals, political leaders, and academics. The European Commission describes vulnerable groups as groups that experience a higher risk of poverty and social exclusion than the general population. These groups include for instance ethnic minorities, migrants, disabled people, those struggling with substance abuse but also sexual minorities and younger people. All of them often face difficulties that can lead to further social exclusion, such as low levels of education and unemployment or underemployment.

Against this background, the webinar will focus on:

• Identifying the (combinations) of individual-level characteristics that predict the extent to which people are in a vulnerable labour market position.
• It employs an intersectional perspective to measuring vulnerability.
• Particular attention to methodological challenges to identify and monitor vulnerable groups in different European datasets over time.

Webinar aim:

The seminar aims to offer participants an overview of causes and consequences of belonging to a ‘vulnerable’ group on labour outcomes and how institutions shape cross-national differences.