Who cares for care workers? Industrial relations and the care trilemma in Europe
本文研究欧洲国家如何应对照护服务中的“三难困境”（服务覆盖、财政约束与工作质量），发现多数国家采取“低路”策略，即增加公共支出和服务覆盖的同时，工作质量停滞或恶化，而劳资关系制度是解释差异的关键。
This introductory article to the Special Issue ‘Social Dialogue in Care Services’ examines how European countries have addressed the ‘care trilemma’ – balancing service coverage, fiscal constraints, and job quality – in early childhood education and care (ECEC) and long-term care (LTC). Despite the expansion of care services across Europe over the past two decades, labour shortages have become widespread. Building on the care trilemma framework, the article investigates the institutional determinants of this paradox and the role of industrial relations in shaping labour market outcomes in the care sector. The analysis combines quantitative evidence from 22 European countries with qualitative insights from seven country case studies presented in this Special Issue. The findings show that most countries have addressed the care trilemma through ‘low road’ strategies: increases in public expenditure and service coverage have often been accompanied by stagnating or deteriorating job quality, reflected in low wages and high work intensity. Overall, the article shows that variations in the resolution of the care trilemma are explained less by levels of public expenditure alone than by the institutional configuration of industrial relations systems and care policy legacies shaping labour regulation in the sector.