Work Integration Social Enterprises. Devices for the promotion of social inclusion and labour activation of the most vulnerable immigrants. The case of the Basque Country

This article highlights the role played by Work Integration Social Enterprises as mechanisms which offer jobs to people with difficulties entering the ordinary labour market through social and employment programmes which promote the employability of beneficiaries, some of whom are international immigrants. Despite their quantity, which now amounts to more than 5.7 million in Spain – the 12.2% of its population-, they make up a group that is specially exposed to social risks and levels of poverty. Such entrepreneurial devices, as transition companies for the labour activation and the social inclusion of the most vulnerable immigrants, contribute to the attainment of a more inclusive and cohesive society. We shall define the work of the Work Integration Social Enterprises in the Basque Country where the international migration is rated in the 6,6% in 2011.