社会企业如何促进劳动力市场包容：经济渠道和研究议程（英）

No. 2612|FEBRUARY2026 How Social Enterprises May FosterLabor Market Inclusion Economic Channels and a Research Agenda Dhushyanth Raju © 2026 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433Telephone: +1 (202) 473 1000; Internet:www.worldbank.org. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this workdo not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shownon any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement oracceptance of such boundaries. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced,in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group,1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: +1 (202) 522 2625; e-mail:pubrights@worldbank.org. How Social EnterprisesMayFoster Labor Market Inclusion:Economic Channels and a Research Agenda Dhushyanth Raju This paper advances a set of economic predictions about how employment-oriented socialenterprises may foster labor market inclusion. Conventional active labor market instruments,such as wage subsidies, vocational training, and job search assistance, address specific barriersfaced by disadvantaged workers but often leave important gaps. Drawing on economicreasoning, the paper highlights three channels through which social enterprises might provide adistinctive contributionon particular margins.First, social enterprises can internalize the externalbenefits of inclusion. Their dual mission, combining social and economic goals, and theirgovernance arrangements, including the reinvestment of surpluses into the mission andaccountability to community stakeholders, tend to lead them to place explicit value on socialoutcomes that conventional firms neglect. Second, where they are embedded in the communitiesthey serve, social enterprises can reduce hidden information problems and discrimination.Managers and coworkers often share the lived experiences of target workers and possess tacitknowledge about accommodating their needs. Third, social enterprises may provide transitionalemployment that allows disadvantaged workers to accumulate human capitalon the job, acquirecredible signals, and mitigate the scarring effects of unemployment. These channels suggest apotential comparative advantagein specific institutional and labor market settings,rather than ageneral substitute,relative to conventional active labor market policies. The paper also outlines aresearch agenda that specifies counterfactual comparisons, measurable outcomes, and datastrategies to evaluate comparative impacts across interventions under rigorous designs, whileacknowledging that evidence on underlying mechanisms will remain indirect. Keywords:Social enterprises; labor market inclusion; disadvantaged workers; externalities;information asymmetry; discrimination; human capital; signaling; active labor market policies JEL codes:J08, J78, L31, O15 1.Introduction How societies integrate disadvantaged groups into productive work is one of the centralchallenges in modern labor economics. Labor market exclusion carries high economic and socialcosts, from lower productivity and tax revenues to higher poverty and welfare dependence.Across a wide set of countries and regions, governments and donors are increasinglyexperimenting with social enterprises as part of strategies to integrate disadvantaged groups intowork. This growing policy attention raises a central question: through what mechanisms mightsocial enterprises provide adistinctive contributionon particular margins, rather than serve as ageneral alternative,to labor market inclusion? Recent global evidence suggests that socialenterprises operate at meaningful scale across many economies and employ a nontrivial share ofthe workforce, underscoring their potential relevance for labor market policy. This paper has two aims. First, it advances a set of economic predictions about how socialenterprises may foster labor market inclusion, focusing on three channels: internalizing theexternal benefits of inclusion, reducing hidden information problems and discrimination, andstrengthening human capital and signaling through transitional employment.These predictionsare explicitly comparative and mechanismbased, rather than claims about overall effectivenessacross contexts.Second, it develops a research agend