Social Inclusion, Position of Social Actors and the Labour Market.
Rolf Hepp

...(a typical German contrivance = with a maximum of income limited to 400 Euro per month and no need to be taxed, while the amount of work done or hours spent on the job is negotiable), and fixed-term work-contracts etc., affects mainly the core countries of the European Union which doesn’t only increase the gap between rich and poor but also creates pressure on the quality of life of the people as the whole situation is being accompanied by less and inadequate income. This way tendencies of impoverishment and forms of flexibilisation are being integrated into the society which might be leading to social insecurities as those are able to penetrate deeply into the social cohesion, posing a potential threat for the majority of the actors.

It is observed specially in the field of economy and labour that the validity of the existing societal notions are jeopardised as they are hardly valid any longer. The realistic basis, on which those notions were formed, has changed so drastically over the last years that they have lost their potential legitimacy. A big gap has emerged between the existing notions, their associated expectations, attitudes etc. and the realistic situation regarding employment, secured existence, future planning. This may be seen from the fact that the expectation of the actors to be able to make a living from their income or of finding a job with an adequate income is hardly fulfilled nowadays, with the result that there may the danger that a great deal of actors are not able to make a living from their earned limited income any longer and have to depend on social benefit sometimes in spite of having several jobs even. But the demands inherent in the existing notions still continue, as seen also in the convictions of the actors themselves, which is strongly rooted within the society, that self-determination or autonomy is based on economic independence which can be only granted by an employment and a regular income. That is why this gap between the existing notions and the concrete precarious living conditions of greater parts of the populations needs to be filled in with a novel approach, attitude and outlook combined with a down-to-earth policy.