Societies and economies are experiencing deep and intertwined structural changes
that may unsettle the perceptions European citizens have of their economic and
employment security. Such labour-market perceptions are likely in turn to alter
people’s political positions. For instance, those worried by labour-market competition
may prefer greater social protection to compensate for the accrued risk, or might prefer
more closed economies where external borders provide protection (or the illusion of
protection). We test these expectations with a conjoint experiment in 13 European
countries on European-level social policy, studying how citizens’ demands align
with parties’ political supply. Results broadly corroborate our expectations on the
moderating effects of different types of concerns about perceived sources of labour-
market competition on the features of preferred European-level social policy