Unlocking the Social Economy 2025

The green and digital transitions are profoundly reshaping the labour market. The shift towards sustainable practices and renewable energy sources is generating new roles in sectors such as clean energy, environmental conservation and green technologies. Concurrently, digital transformation is creating demand for skills in areas like cybersecurity, data analytics and software development. However, these transitions also necessitate substantial workforce reskilling and upskilling as traditional jobs evolve or become obsolete. While new opportunities abound, there is a need for robust education and training programmes to ensure workers can successfully navigate this dynamic employment environment. Businesses in the social economy provide skilling and reskilling programmes to target populations, support target populations to find employment or directly employ target populations. Training and job transition Social enterprises provide skills development programmes tailored to the needs of their target population. They design reskilling programmes for specific populations, such as older workers, displaced workers from declining industries or individuals from marginalized communities, helping to bridge the skills gap and facilitate a transition into new roles. A study on work integration social enterprises (WISEs) in 10 European countries found that 40% of the disadvantaged workers who followed an integration pathway at these enterprises found a job in the labour market, and 21% became self- employed or started an education programme. This indicates that around 61% of disadvantaged people have a positive outcome after following an integration path through a WISE.372.1 Employment and job transition Work integration social enterprises seek to provide training, work and employment opportunities for socially excluded groups, including those with physical disabilities and learning difficulties. Source: EMES European Research Network. (2005). National Profiles of Work Integration Social Enterprises: Ireland. https://emes.net/content/uploads/publications/ELEXIES_WP_02-05_IRL.pdf. Oorja in India BOX 2 Green transition dimension: greening agriculture and food production Oorja, a social enterprise based in India, specializes in sustainable farming technologies and offers training services to facilitate the green and digital transitions in rural areas. Oorja places a strong emphasis on equity by targeting smallholder farmers. The enterprise ensures that these vulnerable populations are not left behind in the transition to sustainable farming practices. They aim to generate direct employment opportunities for community members, with training programmes focused on green skills (e.g. operating solar irrigation systems) and digital skills (e.g. digital platforms for farm management). Source: Oorja Image credit: doctHERs 13 Unlocking the Social Economy: Towards Equity in the Green and Digital Transitions