ДОБРОБУТ ЗА ПРАЦЮ: СВІТОВІ СТАНДАРТИ WORKFARE У ПОСТВОЄННІЙ РЕАЛЬНОСТІ УКРАЇНИ

Abstract

Strengthening structural imbalances in the labour market, demographic changes, economic crises, and the consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war have increased the need for new social policy models aimed at combining social protection with employment activation. The article examines the formation and development of workfare from a social policy concept to the Workfare State model as an alternative to the traditional welfare state and explores the specific features of its implementation in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore. The mechanisms for implementing the workfare model are systematized, and their role in enhancing economic activity, labour market participation, professional integration, and the development of active labour market policies is substantiated. Based on international experience, the prospects for adapting workfare principles to the Ukrainian context are substantiated, taking into account the specific conditions of wartime and post-war economic recovery. A differentiated approach to the application of workfare instruments is proposed for war veterans and demobilized military personnel, internally displaced persons, NEET youth, persons with disabilities capable of employment, residents of de-occupied and war-affected territories, unemployed persons, and low-income working-age individuals. The study emphasizes the need to combine employment incentives with vocational training, retraining, workplace adaptation, entrepreneurship and self-employment support, and other measures aimed at strengthening economic self-sufficiency. It is argued that a Ukrainian workfare model should not be limited to stricter conditions for receiving social assistance, but should ensure a balance between social protection, employment activation, professional reintegration, and decent work. Such an approach can contribute to the sustainable integration of vulnerable groups into the labour market, the recovery of Ukraine’s labour potential, the reduction of long-term dependence on social assistance, and the achievement of sustainable socio-economic development in the post-war period.