Research Projects on Employment and Social Policy

  • How the Dutch approached Brexit

    An independent evaluation of the Dutch response to the UK withdrawal from the European Union found that the Netherlands fared well in negotiations and preparations, but Brexit's total costs to the Netherlands remain unclear.

    19 Dec 2022

  • ‘Green’ jobs and skills development for disadvantaged groups

    People who face disadvantages, including those with low qualifications, may miss out on the opportunities presented by the transition to a greener economy. To ensure this is not the case, more targeted action is needed from relevant stakeholders, such as investing in skill-building among these populations.

    27 Oct 2022

  • Combatting psychological violence against women across the EU

    Commissioned by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), researchers conducted a study to help strengthen the institutional capacity of the EU and member states to combat psychological violence against women and coercive control.

    19 Jul 2022

  • Reviewing the evidence in key areas for the UK Department of Work and Pensions

    To inform policy and practice for DWP and other policymakers, researchers are conducting evidence reviews on effective contracting of employment and health services, digitalising welfare services, understanding state pension age systems, understanding household formation and preventing living-together fraud, and understanding the effectiveness of interventions to promote in-work progression.

    21 Mar 2022

  • European Platform for Investing in Children identifies 'practices that work' across member states

    Reflecting the European Commission’s policy focus on children at risk, EPIC evaluates and disseminates practices that improve outcomes. RAND Europe's latest EPIC policy memo examines juggling work and childcare during the pandemic.

    29 Dec 2021

  • Using social media data to ‘nowcast’ migration around the globe

    Because official statistics can be delayed or fail to correctly capture the full extent of migration, making informed policy decisions can be a challenge. Researchers developed an approach to compute near-real-time migration estimates for Europe and the United States using social media data.

    16 Dec 2021

  • Assessing the economic value of illicit markets in the EU

    The aggregate annual revenues of the nine main criminal markets in the EU ranged from €92 to €188 billion in 2019, according to research that examined the scale, actors, modus operandi and trends in these markets.

    22 Mar 2021

  • Examining COVID-19 and intimate partner violence

    Researchers identified 27 practices that—to varying degrees—have ensured the continuity, accessibility and sustainability of support to women victims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    08 Mar 2021

  • Examining child participation in EU political and democratic life

    An examination of how children participate in decision-making processes across the EU — including at the member state and local level — highlights both challenges and opportunities for improvement. The most successful schemes to promote children’s participation are inclusive, impactful and child-led, but societal views and attitudes can present barriers.

    22 Feb 2021

  • Incentivising parents to return to the labour market after parental leave

    Employers in the EU have a wide range of options to incentivise parents of young children to return to work. Government policies addressing the unequal distribution of unpaid (care) work and reducing the gender pay gap would also help increase the employment of mothers.

    25 Nov 2020

  • Ideas to stimulate and sustain innovation in adult social care provision

    The demand for adult social care in the UK is rising and will continue to rise, but the supply of such care is struggling to keep up. Innovation in social care can enable more and better care to be delivered more cost-effectively.

    23 Oct 2020

  • How, and how much, do migrants use UK health services?

    Recent arrivals to the UK use the NHS significantly less than the UK-born population, though the difference narrows when adjusted for age and self-assessed health. However, more work is needed to provide insights to policy makers on migrant use of the NHS, their health needs, and the quality of health care received.

    30 Mar 2020

  • Equal pay for equal work and the gender pay gap

    The European Parliament is exploring legislation around pay-transparency measures. Such measures have a clear potential to address unjustified or discriminatory wage gaps, but certain disadvantages need to be considered in implementing them.

    06 Mar 2020

  • International comparison of consular services

    To help the Dutch government identify best practices for consular services, researchers compared the the support different countries provide to their citizens abroad. The insights may help the Netherlands identify innovative practices, procedures and ways of organising their consular services.

    21 Nov 2019

  • Exploring NHS and Social Care Funding Options

    Research on different health and social care funding models assessed the popularity of different funding approaches among the UK public. Previous research examined other countries' funding schemes and found there is no single, commonly preferred solution to achieving sustainable revenues.

    07 Oct 2019

  • Understanding barriers to international mobility for researchers

    International travel can help researchers work better together, but it has its challenges. RAND Europe surveyed researchers to gain a better understanding of their experiences of travelling for work and how that varies internationally.

    18 Sep 2018

  • Understanding Private Sector Researcher Mobility

    The UK is an attractive place to work for researchers in the private sector, but Britain's decision to leave the EU has led to concerns from industry around access to talent, staff retention, and research funding.

    28 Sep 2017

  • Understanding the Mobility of Public Sector and Academic Researchers

    A study for the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science, determined that professional motivations are the main drivers of academic and public sector researcher mobility, and most such researchers feel there is an expectation that they be internationally mobile.

    04 May 2017

  • Mediterranean Foresight Forum

    The Mediterranean Foresight Forum (MFF) was a RAND-funded effort to monitor current affairs, analyse future scenarios and simulate policy options to support the implementation of comprehensive responses to complex challenges in the Mediterranean region.

    26 Jan 2017

  • Assessing the Effectiveness of Conditional Cash Transfers as a Development Mechanism

    Conditional cash transfer programmes (CCTs) are seen as particularly effective in low- and middle-income countries, but relatively little is known about the interface between the supply of services and programme administration and specific human development outcomes. RAND Europe assessed the effectiveness of CCTs through a two-year grant from UK Economic Social Research Council and Department for International Development.

    02 Nov 2016