Who we are

The Collaborative Laboratory for Labor, Employment and Social Protection (CoLABOR) is a non-profit association with the Collaborative Laboratory seal awarded since its foundation in 2018, revalidated by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) until 2028. 

It mobilizes resources from academia, companies, public administration and social and solidarity economy organizations with a view to deepening knowledge of current and foreseeable problems around three axes of activity:

  • Work, employment and technology

  • Social protection

  • Social and solidarity economy

CoLABOR positions itself in the face of complex problems in these areas by combining an interdisciplinary character, combining contributions from economics, sociology, public policy, law, data science and computer science. Its interdisciplinary perspective sees work and social protection systems not as autonomous fields but as deeply interconnected institutional complexes, where characteristics and changes in one area have a strong effect on the other. 

CoLABOR benefits from the plural nature of its Associates, which bring together Academia (ISCTE-IUL, University of Coimbra, University of Minho, Institute of Economic, Financial and Tax Law of the University of Law of Lisbon), the Private Sector (Mota-Engil, Sonae, DST Group and CONFMINHO), the Public Sector (Lisbon City Council) and the Social and Solidarity Economy Sector (Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa and the National Confederation of Solidarity Institutions). The Associates bring tacit and scientific knowledge to CoLABOR's activities, as well as ensuring that the research agenda is anchored in the needs of the public, social and private sectors.

Based on its fundamental matrix of values - which aims to guarantee respect for women and men in the workplace, through attitudes and behavior that do not undermine the dignity of workers and provide a working environment that promotes their professional and personal development - in 2023 CoLABOR's Gender Equality Plan was approved and, unequivocally establishing harassment at work as an unequivocal violation of decent work, the Code of Good Conduct for Preventing and Combating Harassment at Work.

STRATEGIC VISION  

CoLABOR's research agenda is based on three major trends, approached through the lens of work, employment and social protection:

  • The digital transition

  • The green transition

  • The demographic transition

CoLABOR structures its work around four lines of action: 

Transformations and Dynamics in Employment

  • CoLABOR has been focusing on changes in the dynamics of work, employment and labor relations. This line of action focuses, in particular, on the impacts on employment resulting from the digital, green and demographic transitions, such as the creation/destruction of jobs promoted by automation, the decarbonization of industrial products and processes, or the increase in the weight of employment in health services for the older population. The profile of economic specialization and positioning in global value chains are other key issues highlighted in the Changes in employment dynamics action line.

  • The main objectives of this line of action are (i) to identify changes in employment arrangements, skills and qualifications; (ii) to map changes in the structure of employment and their impact on job quality and social protection; (iii) to add value to public and private employment policies, on a national, local or organizational scale; and (iv) to exploit digital data to uncover ongoing changes in work and employment dynamics.

Work organization and industrial relations

  • The digital, green and demographic transitions don't just have an impact on job creation/destruction. Beyond this dimension, there are impacts in the field of labour relations and work organization that require in-depth understanding. Emerging trends such as the platformization of work, digitalization, automation, teleworking, decarbonization or lifelong learning are challenging traditional relations between employers and workers, trade unions, employers' associations and the state. CoLABOR considers these changes to be of central importance in contemporary societies, and proposes to develop work in this area to support partners in their decisions and strategic orientations.

  • The main objectives of this line of action are: (i) to make visible the different processes through which the digital, green and demographic transitions impact workers and the organization of work; (ii) to develop answers and guidelines for challenges that workers and organizers face in the dynamics of work and employment; and (iii) to promote the co-creation of convergences between employers, workers and regulatory processes that contribute to guaranteeing fair working conditions and socio-economic progress.

Social Security Transformations 

  • Social protection is at the heart of the welfare state and its main objective is to combine economic efficiency with social progress in order to ensure the well-being of all citizens. To this end, it is essential to take into account the driving forces of change, such as the digital, green and demographic transitions. It is clear that new forms of work and their organization - digitalization, platform companies - are challenging traditional social security schemes, leaving an increasingly significant number of workers uncovered. At the same time, the demographic transition is reflected in ageing in various occupations and a shortage of manpower in some sectors. Given this context, the main objective of this line of action is to analyze the transformation of the social security system in the face of the transitions identified, drawing up forecasts about proposed social policy reforms, particularly in terms of their distributive and sustainability impacts.

  • The main objectives of this line of action are: (i) to evaluate the social security financing model; (ii) to identify trends of change based on the evolution of expenditure and the effects of legislation establishing entitlement to different benefits; (iii) to evaluate extraordinary social policies related to the pandemic (e.g. simplified lay-off and AERT) following a cost-benefit approach; (iv) to create and optimize a microsimulation model as a transversal tool for social protection research.

Evaluation of social services

  • There is a growing need for social protection to include economic and demographic dynamics in its scope of analysis (e.g. family dynamics resulting from the greater integration of women into the labor market), as well as welfare state reforms (e.g. decentralization of powers from the central state to municipalities), which means a need to respond in terms of public policies and social innovation products.

    Long-term health systems are key to coping with the demographic transition and are under pressure to improve their capacity and quality of response. The green economy, the digitalization of work and demographic transitions also face tremendous challenges that require an increase in efficiency and sustainability of financing, improvements in access and equitable redistribution to generate innovative social responses to the social market where, together with social institutions, private markets and investment funds have become more relevant.

  • The main objectives of this line of action are: (i) to map emerging social challenges and their consequences for the sustainability and governance model of social services; (ii) to define a sustainable model for the provision and financing of health services that integrates home and institutional services; (iii) to design proposals for social service governance models in line with the administrative evolution of the territory.

CoLABOR INSTRUMENTS

As part of these lines of action, CoLABOR is developing a set of innovative tools based on digital technologies.

  • It is a digital platform for the systematization, critical analysis and visualization of international, national and local statistical and legal information in the areas of work, employment and social protection. CoLABOR is responsible for its development and maintenance. It has been available online at https://datalabor.pt since November 2020.

  • The Technology Impact Assessment Toolkit (TIAT) is a tool for investigating the impact of new technologies on organizations, namely on work organization, employment and labour relations.

    This tool is intended to support the process of selecting and adopting technologies through impact assessment and participatory processes. As a context-sensitive methodology, TIAT aims to promote social justice by involving stakeholders in reflective and decision-making processes at the micro (organizations), meso (sector) and macro (national) levels.

    Aiming to develop this instrument on the basis of the learning and knowledge resulting from related projects, CoLABOR should complete a prototype in 2023, developed continuously in the following years.

  • There are a myriad of aspects to consider when it comes to social protection, in a context of major technological, demographic, economic, social and environmental changes. In the face of these changes, social protection schemes must guarantee effective protection, combating possible consequences such as increased inequality and poverty.

    Given this complexity and importance, political decision-makers must be equipped with tools to understand the impact of ongoing changes and assess the impact of various policy alternatives in advance.

    CoLABOR is developing dynamic microsimulation models for projecting and evaluating the impact of employment, labor and social protection policies. Four specific models will be simulated: (i) demographic; (ii) labor market; (iii) social protection; (iv) health.

    The development of dynamic microsimulation models is expected to continue until 2026.

  • Jobs and Occupations Based Search (JOBS) aims to contribute to the available information associated with job search and supply through a digital tool capable of collecting and analyzing this data in real time. This function is carried out by continuously searching for, analyzing and scraping job vacancies on publicly accessible platforms. The accumulated data collected by this tool will populate a longitudinal database and enable varied analyses of employment trends.

    CoLABOR plans to start developing this tool in 2023, completing a prototype by the end of this year. Further development should continue until 2026.