Resilience has become a prominent concept in EU social and economic policy, positioned as a response to megatrends such as technological change, labour market deregulation and demographic shifts. This working paper critically examines how resilience is conceptualised in EU policy, arguing that it insufficiently accounts for structural inequalities in individuals’ capacities to adapt to risks. Building on cumulative inequality theory and the prevalences and penalties framework, we propose an “inequalities in resilience” framework that distinguishes between the need for resilience—measured by exposure to labour market risks—and the capacity for resilience—measured by the ability to avoid poverty when risks materialise. Using EI-SILC data for 30 countries, 2010–2020, encompassing 3,103,097 individuals, we find that groups with greater need for resilience, particularly those with lower educational attainment and single-parent households, show lower capacity for resilience. This pattern shows a high degree of consistency across different risks and poverty indicators, and national contexts. We conclude that resilience-focused policy must integrate prevention and resource-based interventions while recognising the compounded, path-dependent, and status-based nature of inequality. Addressing these layered disadvantages requires coordinated, inclusive policy designs that go beyond individual adaptation to tackle the structural roots of disadvantage.
Authors: Rense Nieuwenhuis, Max Thaning, Alzbeta Bartova, and Lovisa Backman