The extension of social security to trainees

Towards protection of socially useful work

Bibliographic Data

ID12627792
AuthorsAlexandre de le Court (0000-0001-9374-5498, United States Social Security Administration, corresponding author), Arnau Carracelas Expósito (0009-0001-4630-0012, Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona, Spain)
Year2026
Publication date2026-03-29
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Security (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1388-2627 • E-ISSN: 2399-2948
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/13882627261421200
OpenAlexW7143530223
LanguageEN
References cited26

This article critically examines the legal frameworks governing the social protection of traineeships in the European Union, with a focus on their ambiguous status between training and employment. While traineeships have become a widespread and a growing feature of labour market entry for young people, they often fall outside the scope of labour law and social security protections, particularly when not undertaken under a formal employment contract. Drawing on EU legal instruments and national case studies from Germany, France, Finland and Spain, the article explores the extent to which traineeships are treated as non-productive yet socially useful activities deserving of protection. It argues that, despite their educational framing, many traineeships involve economically valuable work and should be reclassified accordingly. The analysis reveals that most of the analysed regulatory approaches reinforce a productivist logic, granting protection primarily when traineeships resemble standard employment. This also reinforces the use of traineeships as precarious forms of work, impacting upon the ability of young persons to access decent work

Extension (predicate logic · Focus (optics · Scope (computer science · Social protection · Social security · Work (physics · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Discrimination and Equality Law · European Law and Migration

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