Long-term care services in 4 European countries: labour markets and other aspects

Abstract

XREAP, a Catalan Network for Research in Applied Economics of 7 research groups, has organised together with the Management School of the Radboud University a seminar on long-term care service bringing together insights of the situationof this sector in Catalonia and the Netherlands. However, this electronic book includes also contribution from Germany and Finland faciliationg the lecturer a wider European perspective on developments in the longterm care labour markets and the organisation of the care service. One of the mayor concerns of the European Union is its ageing population and to develop adequate social and economic strategy to face this challenge. One of the key issues is how care for elderly and dependent people in the future assuring the access of all, who need care, to high quality services. There is a wide range of system configuration in the European Union as well as at national as at regional level. But all these particular systems must gave respond to two main challenges caused by the multiple demographic changes: a) The increasing demand of professionalized care services and b) The lack of qualified workforces to satisfy this demand assuring a high care quality under public budget restriction. This e-book brings together articles of authors from four European countries reflecting trends in the search for new combinations between institutional, family and community provision for high quality long-term care services.