Protéger l’emploi et lutter contre la dégradation du revenu des ménages. Un bilan des principales politiques sociales engagées en europe face à la crise sanitaire

This article studies the policies for safeguarding employment and preserving household income that have been deployed in several European countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Portugal, Ireland) to deal with the Covid-19 crisis. We evaluate the emergency measures (short-time work schemes, exceptional aids, etc.) by comparing them with the changes observed in social performance indicators (unemployment rate, household purchasing power, etc.). We show that the policies deployed so far have prevented a surge in unemployment and an excessive decline in household income. Overall, the social protection policies that seem to generate the best results are those that have combined a large-scale short-time work scheme with exceptional aid targeted at the most precarious households. We also put in perspective, through an elaboration of stylized facts, the reforms or reform projects that aim to remedy the weaknesses of European social protection systems that have been highlighted by the pandemic. We show that significant efforts are being made to improve coverage of at-risk populations (self-employed, young people, etc.), to broaden coverage of employment and social exclusion risks and to improve services provided to citizens in the health and long-term care sectors.