Social entities demand responsible employment policies that guarantee access to decent jobs.

That all people have decent working conditions is a fundamental pillar to avoid social exclusion and move towards a fairer and more cohesive society. However, 10% of the Catalan working population is at risk of poverty, according to the INSOCAT report (2025) published by ECAS (Entitats Catalanes d'Acció Social).

Faced with this reality, the 67 organizations that make up the Commission for Social and Labor Insertion of ECAS have launched a campaign under the slogan:
"Health protection is a basic right, decent work too",
to claim access to decent work as an essential pillar for social cohesion, as well as the key role of social organizations in promoting quality employment in Catalonia.

During the month of May 2025, ECAS entities have been informed that the SOC (Servei d'Ocupació de Catalunya) will stop promoting the SINGULARS employment program, which through the action of specialized social entities and training centers, accompanies each year more than 3,500 young people who are neither employed nor integrated into the formal education system. The elimination of this program leaves a highly vulnerable group in a serious situation of neglect.

"It is another demonstration of the lack of legitimacy, dialogue and funding that we suffer the entities of social and labor insertion in Catalonia."
-EstherSancho, coordinator of the Commission of Social and Labor Insertion of ECAS.

In addition, in recent years, some public programs for social and labor market insertion, such as MAIS (aimed at recipients of the Guaranteed Income for Citizenship), have tightened their conditions, mainly through the reduction in the duration of accompaniment and the requirement of rapid insertion results.

In this context, ECAS organizations have prepared the document:"The role of the third sector in active employment policies in Catalonia: Towards a new model of consultation?",
which will be delivered to political representatives to claim the complementary role that public administrations and social organizations should have in the development of active employment policies in Catalonia.

"The entities cannot do quality work. The cutback of programs of social and labor insertion abducts unemployed people to precarious jobs."
-SoniaMoragrega, member of the Commission of Social and Labor Insertion of ECAS.

The document stresses the need to incorporate a social perspective in employment policies to guarantee personalized responses to groups in particularly complex situations. This implies reinforcing spaces for dialogue and co-construction of public policies, and providing more resources for socio-labor insertion programs.

Each year, ECAS social entities serve more than 100,000 people in Catalonia through training and insertion programs, which demonstrates the experience and flexibility necessary to offer responses adapted to the diversity of the population.