Social security systems faced with multiple challenges: Portugal's response to the polycrisis (2020–2025)

Social security systems face old and new challenges, which are often entangled. Swift reforms are therefore required, to strengthen systems and ensure their fairness and ability to respond to multiple eventualities. Taking a broad institutional and multidisciplinary perspective, this article discusses the Portuguese social security system, in the context of the pandemic and inflation crises which hit the country while it was still recovering from the debt crisis and the adverse effects of implementing a structural adjustment programme. We will argue that the previous trajectory of employment and social security policies helps explain the fragility of the system, which was accentuated by the pandemic and the inflationary shock. In addition, we point to the emergence of a new trend in recent years of resorting to ad hoc and temporary measures, to the detriment of consolidating and expanding existing programmes and rights. The article contributes to the international literature by offering insights that may be applicable to other national situations and comparable institutional contexts.