Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Active labour market policie'

European labour markets are increasingly divided between insiders in full-time permanent employment and outsiders in precarious work or unemployment. Using quantitative as well as qualitative methods, this thesis investigates the determinants and consequences of labour market policies that target these outsiders in three separate papers. The first paper looks at Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) that target the unemployed. It shows that left and right-wing parties choose different types of ALMPs depending on the policy and the welfare regime in which the party is located. These findings reconcile the conflicting theoretical expectations from the Power Resource approach and the insider-outsider theory. The second paper considers the regulation and protection of the temporary work sector. It solves the puzzle of temporary re-regulation in France, which contrasts with most other European countries that have deregulated temporary work. Permanent workers are adversely affected by the expansion of temporary work in France because of general skills and low wage coordination. The interests of temporary and permanent workers for re-regulation therefore overlap in France and left governments have an incentive to re-regulate the sector. The third paper then investigates what determines inequality between median and bottom income workers. It shows that non-inclusive economic coordination increases inequality in the absence of compensating institutions such as minimum wage regulation. The deregulation of temporary work as well as spending on employment incentives and rehabilitation also has adverse effects on inequality. Thus, policies that target outsiders have important economic effects on the rest of the workforce. Three broader contributions can be identified. First, welfare state policies may not always be in the interests of labour, so left parties may not always promote them. Second, the interests of insiders and outsiders are not necessarily at odds. Third, economic coordination may not be conducive to egalitarianism where it is not inclusive.

The present analysis sets out to analyse the current situation of active labour market policies addressing disabled people. Methodologically, the thesis is a mixed-method, comparative social policy research study. With its layered analysis, it aims to identify how states can better promote the employment of disabled people in the open labour market. Initially, the factors behind better employment outcomes were investigated. This was, later, followed by investigation of individual level interpretations and experiences in the face of ALMPs addressing disabled people. The results of the present thesis indicate that centralisation of assessment structures, timely vocational rehabilitation; availability of flexible working options and access to education; built environment and transport systems have potential to promote employment of disabled people after controlling for the factors. Prolonged and strong support system and access to training opportunities may also contribute. Still, any governance style that harms ‘the rights and responsibilities equilibrium’ in favour of the state inherently possesses the potential to produce a reaction at the individual level, even if the person has benefited from it. While individual-level characteristics as a group appeared to explain most of the variation, the effect of country-level policy factors as a group on employment outcomes are more difficult to observe. Thus, when delivering policies targeting the integration of disabled people, it is crucial to take a non-deterministic policy approach where the perspectives of direct stakeholders taken into consideration substantially. Combination of activation focus with protection systems could be a better strategy in transforming the employment situation of disabled people.

The dissertation has the goal of providing a better understanding on the effectiveness of specific active labour market policies that aim at integration of young and older workers. The first Chapter evaluates the effectiveness of the 2003 reform of the Italian apprenticeship regime is assessed. This reform raised the age-eligibility and revised the training component. The different timing of the implementation of the reform in the Italian regions and sectors is exploited. To estimate the ATT of the apprentices in the reformed regime (compared to the old regime), the Covariate Balancing Propensity Score estimator is implemented (CBPS - Imai and Ratkovic, 2014) employing a large set of covariates. The inflow sample of about 18,000 apprentices hired in 2007 is drawn from administrative data of the Social Security Institutions (INPS). Four years after hiring, the reform induced an increase in the transition rate to permanent jobs in the same firm and boosted the average wage of the apprentices. Finally, by a DiD estimator on the LFS, it is found that the higher diffusion of the apprenticeship among the youth becoming eligible is offset by a reduction of other temporary jobs. The research related to the second and the third Chapters assesses the effectiveness of Belgian federal policies to boost the employment rate of the older population. In this research we rely on an endogenous stratified sample of administrative data containing about 244,000 individuals (aged between 52 and 61 years old in 2002) with their employment history since 1957. The second Chapter assesses the impact of a Belgian employers’ Social Security Contributions reduction for workers older than 58. The analysis is performed on multiple repeated cross-sections even if panel data are available, to account for age-varying confounding factors. We use a CDiD estimator (Heckman et al., 1997) and when needed a trend-adjusted version of it (Wolfers, 2006). To facilitate the integration of endogenous sampling weights in this estimator, we implement it as an Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) estimator, which we extend to allow for multiple cross-sections in the before and after periods. We find small positive short-run impacts on working time and larger ones on the employment rate, but only for employees at high risk of leaving to early retirement. The wage is not affected. In a Cost-Benefit-Analysis, we estimate that during the 1.25 years after its introduction the subsidy imposed a net monthly cost of 330€ per saved job to Society. Had the subsidy been targeted to sectors where early retirement schemes are widely used, Society would instead have gained 2,080€ per saved job. The third Chapter evaluates the impact of the Belgian part-time Time-Credit scheme for older workers. The policy measure allows older workers to reduce their working time by 20% (or 50%) with the goal of postponing their retirement decision and possibly improve their work-life balance. Workers receive a lump-sum in-work benefit of about € 215 (€ 385), granting an average income replacement of 90% (66%) of the full-time wage. We assess the ATT on the survival in employment and we control for selection on observable (IPW) by using their whole employment history. As control units can enter the treatment in later periods, we take into account the dynamic treatment selection (Vikström, 2014). Our estimates indicate a positive employment effect in the short-run followed by a negative impact after four years with insignificant health effects. The policy does not pass the Cost-Benefit-Analysis test.

Il presente lavoro svolge un'analisi teorica e pratica del modello di flexicurity proponendosi di individuare nuovi approcci normativi e strumenti pratici per il suo aggiornamento. Il lavoro è idealmente strutturato in tre parti. All'interno della prima sezione del lavoro, viene svolto uno studio preliminare del modello teorico di flexicurity, e un'analisi della successiva adattazione e attuazione all'interno del livello istituzionale eurounitario. All'interno della seconda sezione vengono analizzate le applicazioni pratiche del modello di flexicurity su due fragenti connessi con le transizioni occupazionali: da un lato la flessibilità in uscita, dall'altro i modelli di politiche attive del lavoro e gli attori istituzionali coinvolti. Nell'analisi di tali frangenti vengono evidenziati potenziali attriti sussistenti tra l'attuazione pratica del modello di flexicurtiy e la grammatica dei diritti sociali riconosciuti a livello sovranazionale. All'interno della terza, e ultima, sezione del lavoro si individua il "capability approach" ,elaborato da Amartya Sen, come criterio normativo di revisione del modello di flexicurity, e nel reddito minimo garantito uno degli strumenti necessari per raggiungere coerentemente tale aggiornamento.

This thesis explores the lived experiences of 28 young people in seven locations in the North-East of England who were unemployed and engaging with aspects of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) between 2012 and 2014. The research set out to give young people who were directly affected by these Active Labour Market Policies, particularly in the context of shifting levels of support for young unemployed people and increasing conditionality and sanctions associated to benefits, a voice about how this was impacting on them. The research adopted a qualitative longitudinal multi-case study approach. The findings document the young people’s barriers to employment and their related perspectives and experiences of the JobCentre Plus in particular as an interface of the government’s ALMPs. It was found that corrective methods to unemployment kept churning these young people between being off benefits, albeit short-term, and back on again as new claimants. It was not a simple case of young people choosing not to work; there was an inter-play between structure and agency. The structure of place and institutions that interacted with these young people shaped the choices the young people chose or were able to make. Here the research argues that the structure of agency needs to be addressed in order to tackle youth unemployment.

Contrary to passive benefits, ALMPs are intended to reskill individuals and require their ‘active’ participation to facilitate reinstatement into the labour market. In this thesis, I investigate how ALMPs do not remain a mere symbolic political message but become something which significantly helps individuals and benefits society. In particular, the thesis tries to raise the understanding of the economic and social effects of the law reflected in: i) the promotion of targeted reforms, ii) the evolution of labour market instruments embraced or disregarded by lawmakers, and iii) the existence of an identity in the labour market which has a social dynamic. First, I study the effect of participating in a European active labour market policy aimed at fighting youth inactivity; namely, the recent Youth Guarantee. Then, I use text analysis to illustrate how the progressive emergence of an ALMP approach in the law corresponds, over time, to the rising success of policymakers in fighting unemployment and preventing the NEET emergency. Finally, I exploit experimental methods to demonstrate that occupationally inactive individuals may deviate from standard social norms, such as working, and therefore may avoid participating in job training, due to negative peer pressure from their sub-cultural group of reference. In conclusion, this thesis sheds new light on the economic, institutional, and social implications of an active labour market policy approach by showing that measures to fight occupational inactivity can be effective insofar as we consider their framing; namely, their target, their institutional framework, and their societal role.

Thesis (Ph. D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2007.
Thesis research directed by: Public Policy. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

This article examines the relationship between spending on active labour market welfare programs (ALPMs) and attitudes towards two decomposed aspects of globalization: immigration and trade liberalization. Two empirical analyses related to this topic are carried out using cross-national survey data. The result is that ALMP spending has a positive impact on attitudes towards globalization. This finding suggests that governments can use targeted ALMP spending to counteract negative attitudes towards globalization and therefore ensure continuing economic benefits from trade liberalization and immigration.
Cet article se penche sur la corrélation entre les dépenses effectuées pour des programmes sociaux ciblés sur le marché du travail et les attitudes envers deux aspects de la mondialisation, soit l'immigration et la libéralisation de l'échange international. Deux analyses empiriques ont été effectuées sous la base de sondages multinationaux. Les résultats obtenus suggèrent que les gouvernements peuvent instaurer des programmes sociaux ciblés sur le marché du travail afin de contrebalancer les attitudes négatives soulevées par la globalisation et, par conséquence, préserver les avantages de la libéralisation de l'échange international et l'immigration.

Within the South African context, the mining industry is a major employer and a significant contributor to the economy. Production costs are ever increasing and for this industry to survive and remain financially viable, efficient technologies are continuously being explored and implemented to ensure the industries sustainability now and in the future. In order for this to be achieved, sufficient and competent technical skills, in the form of artisans, technicians and engineers are required. The mining industry is currently experiencing a shortage of these skills. Twenty-one persons were interviewed, who are representative of three stakeholder groups: namely, regulatory bodies, educational institutions and mining companies to ascertain the challenges in terms of the technical skills and thereby, derive solutions for the industry. The data used to uncover the above was obtained using qualitative techniques applied to the three stakeholder groups. This research presents the responses of those in-depth interviews from the various stakeholders obtained over several months of research. The challenges within the industry are disclosed and practical solutions presented to mitigate those challenges.Copyright
Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
unrestricted

In Chapter 1 of the dissertation, the role of social networks is analyzed as an important determinant in the search behavior of the unemployed. Based on the hypothesis that the unemployed generate information on vacancies through their social network, search theory predicts that individuals with large social networks should experience an increased productivity of informal search, and reduce their search in formal channels. Due to the higher productivity of search, unemployed with a larger network are also expected to have a higher reservation wage than unemployed with a small network. The model-theoretic predictions are tested and confirmed empirically. It is found that the search behavior of unemployed is significantly affected by the presence of social contacts, with larger networks implying a stronger substitution away from formal search channels towards informal channels. The substitution is particularly pronounced for passive formal search methods, i.e., search methods that generate rather non-specific types of job offer information at low relative cost. We also find small but significant positive effects of an increase of the network size on the reservation wage. These results have important implications on the analysis of the job search monitoring or counseling measures that are usually targeted at formal search only. Chapter 2 of the dissertation addresses the labor market effects of vacancy information during the early stages of unemployment. The outcomes considered are the speed of exit from unemployment, the effects on the quality of employment and the short-and medium-term effects on active labor market program (ALMP) participation. It is found that vacancy information significantly increases the speed of entry into employment; at the same time the probability to participate in ALMP is significantly reduced. Whereas the long-term reduction in the ALMP arises in consequence of the earlier exit from unemployment, we also observe a short-run decrease for some labor market groups which suggest that caseworker use high and low intensity activation measures interchangeably which is clearly questionable from an efficiency point of view. For unemployed who find a job through vacancy information we observe a small negative effect on the weekly number of hours worked. In Chapter 3, the long-term effects of participation in ALMP are assessed for unemployed youth under 25 years of age. Complementary to the analysis in Chapter 2, the effects of participation in time- and cost-intensive measures of active labor market policies are examined. In particular we study the effects of job creation schemes, wage subsidies, short-and long-term training measures and measures to promote the participation in vocational training. The outcome variables of interest are the probability to be in regular employment, and participation in further education during the 60 months following program entry. The analysis shows that all programs, except job creation schemes have positive and long-term effects on the employment probability of youth. In the short-run only short-term training measures generate positive effects, as long-term training programs and wage subsidies exhibit significant locking-in'' effects. Measures to promote vocational training are found to increase the probability of attending education and training significantly, whereas all other programs have either no or a negative effect on training participation. Effect heterogeneity with respect to the pre-treatment level education shows that young people with higher pre-treatment educational levels benefit more from participation most programs. However, for longer-term wage subsidies we also find strong positive effects for young people with low initial education levels. The relative benefit of training measures is higher in West than in East Germany. In the evaluation studies of Chapters 2 and 3 semi-parametric balancing methods of Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) are used to eliminate the effects of counfounding factors that influence both the treatment participation as well as the outcome variable of interest, and to establish a causal relation between program participation and outcome differences. While PSM and IPW are intuitive and methodologically attractive as they do not require parametric assumptions, the practical implementation may become quite challenging due to their sensitivity to various data features. Given the importance of these methods in the evaluation literature, and the vast number of recent methodological contributions in this field, Chapter 4 aims to reduce the knowledge gap between the methodological and applied literature by summarizing new findings of the empirical and statistical literature and practical guidelines for future applied research. In contrast to previous publications this study does not only focus on the estimation of causal effects, but stresses that the balancing challenge can and should be discussed independent of question of causal identification of treatment effects on most empirical applications. Following a brief outline of the practical implementation steps required for PSM and IPW, these steps are presented in detail chronologically, outlining practical advice for each step. Subsequently, the topics of effect estimation, inference, sensitivity analysis and the combination with parametric estimation methods are discussed. Finally, new extensions of the methodology and avenues for future research are presented.
In Kapitel 1 der Dissertation wird die Rolle von sozialen Netzwerken als Determinante im Suchverhalten von Arbeitslosen analysiert. Basierend auf der Hypothese, dass Arbeitslose durch ihr soziales Netzwerk Informationen über Stellenangebote generieren, sollten Personen mit großen sozialen Netzwerken eine erhöhte Produktivität ihrer informellen Suche erfahren, und ihre Suche in formellen Kanälen reduzieren. Durch die höhere Produktivität der Suche sollte für diese Personen zudem der Reservationslohn steigen. Die modelltheoretischen Vorhersagen werden empirisch getestet, wobei die Netzwerkinformationen durch die Anzahl guter Freunde, sowie Kontakthäufigkeit zu früheren Kollegen approximiert wird. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Suchverhalten der Arbeitslosen durch das Vorhandensein sozialer Kontakte signifikant beeinflusst wird. Insbesondere sinkt mit der Netzwerkgröße formelle Arbeitssuche - die Substitution ist besonders ausgeprägt für passive formelle Suchmethoden, d.h. Informationsquellen die eher unspezifische Arten von Jobangeboten bei niedrigen relativen Kosten erzeugen. Im Einklang mit den Vorhersagen des theoretischen Modells finden sich auch deutlich positive Auswirkungen einer Erhöhung der Netzwerkgröße auf den Reservationslohn. Kapitel 2 befasst sich mit den Arbeitsmarkteffekten von Vermittlungsangeboten (VI) in der frühzeitigen Aktivierungsphase von Arbeitslosen. Die Nutzung von VI könnte dabei eine „doppelte Dividende“ versprechen. Zum einen reduziert die frühe Aktivierung die Dauer der Arbeitslosigkeit, und somit auch die Notwendigkeit späterer Teilnahme in Arbeitsmarktprogrammen (ALMP). Zum anderen ist die Aktivierung durch Information mit geringeren locking-in‘‘ Effekten verbunden als die Teilnahme in ALMP. Ziel der Analyse ist es, die Effekte von frühen VI auf die Eingliederungsgeschwindigkeit, sowie die Teilnahmewahrscheinlichkeit in ALMP zu messen. Zudem werden mögliche Effekte auf die Qualität der Beschäftigung untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass VI die Beschäftigungswahrscheinlichkeit signifikant erhöhen, und dass gleichzeitig die Wahrscheinlichkeit in ALMP teilzunehmen signifikant reduziert wird. Für die meisten betrachteten Subgruppen ergibt sich die langfristige Reduktion der ALMP Teilnahme als Konsequenz der schnelleren Eingliederung. Für einzelne Arbeitsmarktgruppen ergibt sich zudem eine frühe und temporare Reduktion, was darauf hinweist, dass Maßnahmen mit hohen und geringen „locking-in“ Effekten aus Sicht der Sachbearbeiter austauschbar sind, was aus Effizienzgesichtspunkten fragwürdig ist. Es wird ein geringer negativer Effekt auf die wöchentliche Stundenanzahl in der ersten abhängigen Beschäftigung nach Arbeitslosigkeit beobachtet. In Kapitel 3 werden die Langzeiteffekte von ALMP für arbeitslose Jugendliche unter 25 Jahren ermittelt. Die untersuchten ALMP sind ABM-Maßnahmen, Lohnsubventionen, kurz-und langfristige Maßnahmen der beruflichen Bildung sowie Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Teilnahme an Berufsausbildung. Ab Eintritt in die Maßnahme werden Teilnehmer und Nicht-Teilnehmer für einen Zeitraum von sechs Jahren beobachtet. Als Zielvariable wird die Wahrscheinlichkeit regulärer Beschäftigung, sowie die Teilnahme in Ausbildung untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass alle Programme, bis auf ABM, positive und langfristige Effekte auf die Beschäftigungswahrscheinlichkeit von Jugendlichen haben. Kurzfristig finden wir jedoch nur für kurze Trainingsmaßnahmen positive Effekte, da lange Trainingsmaßnahmen und Lohnzuschüsse mit signifikanten locking-in‘‘ Effekten verbunden sind. Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Berufsausbildung erhöhen die Wahrscheinlichkeit der Teilnahme an einer Ausbildung, während alle anderen Programme keinen oder einen negativen Effekt auf die Ausbildungsteilnahme haben. Jugendliche mit höherem Ausbildungsniveau profitieren stärker von der Programmteilnahme. Jedoch zeigen sich für längerfristige Lohnsubventionen ebenfalls starke positive Effekte für Jugendliche mit geringer Vorbildung. Der relative Nutzen von Trainingsmaßnahmen ist höher in West- als in Ostdeutschland. In den Evaluationsstudien der Kapitel 2 und 3 werden die semi-parametrischen Gewichtungsverfahren Propensity Score Matching (PSM) und Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) verwendet, um den Einfluss verzerrender Faktoren, die sowohl die Maßnahmenteilnahme als auch die Zielvariablen beeinflussen zu beseitigen, und kausale Effekte der Programmteilahme zu ermitteln. Während PSM and IPW intuitiv und methodisch sehr attraktiv sind, stellt die Implementierung der Methoden in der Praxis jedoch oft eine große Herausforderung dar. Das Ziel von Kapitel 4 ist es daher, praktische Hinweise zur Implementierung dieser Methoden zu geben. Zu diesem Zweck werden neue Erkenntnisse der empirischen und statistischen Literatur zusammengefasst und praxisbezogene Richtlinien für die angewandte Forschung abgeleitet. Basierend auf einer theoretischen Motivation und einer Skizzierung der praktischen Implementierungsschritte von PSM und IPW werden diese Schritte chronologisch dargestellt, wobei auch auf praxisrelevante Erkenntnisse aus der methodischen Forschung eingegangen wird. Im Anschluss werden die Themen Effektschätzung, Inferenz, Sensitivitätsanalyse und die Kombination von IPW und PSM mit anderen statistischen Methoden diskutiert. Abschließend werden neue Erweiterungen der Methodik aufgeführt.

Doutoramento em Economia
Recentemente, foram introduzidas em Portugal diversas reformas estruturais no sistema de protecção social com impacto nas decisões ocupacionais dos indivíduos. A análise procurará contribuir para o conhecimento do funcionamento do mercado de trabalho português e permitirá retirar conclusões em termos de política económica. Começaremos por uma revisão da literatura sobre os efeitos do subsídio de desemprego nos esforços de procura de emprego dos beneficiários, no tempo que permanecem no desemprego e na qualidade dos empregos que encontram. Depois de analisados os modelos de procura de trabalho e de escolha entre trabalho e lazer, discutem-se as abordagens que referem a monitorização, as sanções e a articulação com outras políticas activas de emprego como soluções para reduzir os efeitos adversos da atribuição do subsídio de desemprego. Seguidamente, analisamos que factores condicionam a entrada no emprego a tempo parcial no contexto da economia portuguesa. Complementamos a evidência disponível nos estudos já realizados, fazendo uma distinção entre a entrada no emprego a horário parcial por conta de outrem e por conta própria. Desenvolveremos a análise para cada um dos géneros separadamente para aferir se as políticas que visam aumentar a taxa de emprego parcial devem ser diferenciadas. Ainda relacionado com o emprego a tempo parcial, utilizaremos uma experiência natural para avaliar se o aumento do subsídio de desemprego parcial, introduzido em Portugal no primeiro trimestre de 2003, incentivou a aceitação destes empregos pelos beneficiários de subsídio de desemprego. Sobre o auto-emprego, com recurso a uma experiência natural, tentaremos aferir se um aumento do valor das contribuições para a segurança social desmotiva o desenvolvimento de actividades por conta própria e/ou condiciona a sua duração. Por último, estudaremos qual o perfil dos indivíduos que se tornam trabalhadores independentes e identificaremos que factores contribuem para aumentar a probabilidade da actividade por conta própria ser encerrada, fazendo uma diferenciação entre transições para o trabalho assalariado e para a inactividade/desemprego.
Recently, several reforms have been introduced in the Portuguese social protection system. This thesis will try to understand how these changes affected the occupational choices of active adults, and will also assess the efficiency of the new policies in meeting the established goals. A survey, on the effects of unemployment insurance on job search efforts, unemployment duration, and the quality of the following jobs, is presented in chapter 1. Both job search models and leisure-consumption decision models are discussed, as well as an argument from research that monitoring, sanctions and active labour market policies are a solution for decreasing moral hazard among unemployment insurance beneficiaries. In addition, we also study the determinants for entry into part-time jobs in the Portuguese economy. This analysis complements the available empirical evidence by distinguishing between entry into self-employment part-time jobs and entry into wage sector part-time jobs. This research also shows whether policies implemented to foster part-time employment should be gender sensitive. Furthermore, a natural experiment will be used to evaluate whether an increase in partial unemployment insurance raises the likelihood of a part-time job being chosen by an unemployment insurance beneficiary. Finally, this study also analyzes the determinants of entry into self-employment as well as the factors influencing the duration of self-employment in Portugal. We exploit a natural experiment to assess whether increases in social security contributions rates have influenced the likelihood of entry into self-employment.

The persistence of high unemployment has placed increasing stress on the role of active labour market policies. They have been seen as the main policy tool in moving individuals from income support to employment. This thesis attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of active labour market policy in fulfilling the difficult task given to it. This is done by empirically exploring the impact of active labour market programmes on the overall level of open unemployment, participants' repeat unemployment incidence and their subsequent employment record. By this means, the thesis examines the achievement of both macroeconomic and individual goals given to active labour market policy. The main finding running through all chapters, and consequently through different estimation methods, samples and aggregation levels, is that active labour market policy improves the employment performance of the economy but it can help only so far as it goes. The beneficial effect remains far too limited to bring down the current high levels of unemployment or to wipe out the gap in labour market possibilities prevailing between advantaged and disadvantaged individuals. This is not to say that active labour market policy would not be useful in conjunction with other policies affecting unemployment, but without any support its effects will remain modest.

This PhD study centres on analysing the changing employment service portfolios available to disadvantaged people out of work in Britain and Germany. Looking at the recent wave of comparative studies on ‘activation’ reforms, it springs to mind that the question of the changing portfolio of ‘active’ labour market policy (ALMP) measures has received only little attention in the sense of a rigorous comparative analysis. In order to address that gap, this study develops a novel normative and analytical perspective for the study of ALMP, which then is applied to the empirical cases Britain and Germany. I first develop the concept of personalisation as the normative and analytical framework for the analysis of ALMP. I show that the diversity of ALMP portfolios, which is a precondition for a personalised service provision, can serve as a proxy for measuring personalisation. Equipped with this analytical tool, the analysis subsequently focuses on the changes to ALMP portfolios over the past 15 years in terms of diversity. It is shown that during this period both Britain and Germany reformed working-age benefits in a way that led to a closer integration of the benefit system at an institutional level. Taking the policy rhetoric that closer integration will lead to more ‘personalised’ (UK) or more ‘tailor-made’ (Germany) services as a starting point, I analyse whether these developments at an institutional level have indeed led to a more personalised, or more diverse, provision of employment services. This study looks in particular at the situation of those groups in the two countries who have been most affected by recent integration reforms. These have primarily been claimants of second-tier working-age benefits, namely incapacity related benefits in the UK, and ‘Sozialhilfe’ (SH, social assistance) and ‘Arbeitslosengeld II’ (ALGII, Unemployment Benefit II) in Germany. I find that in both countries, employment services for claimants of these second-tier benefits have become more diverse in the wake of the integration reforms of the past 10 to 15 years, thereby increasing their personalisation potential. However, the two countries have each followed very specific reform trajectories. While the volume and coverage of ALMP have increased in both countries, the portfolio of services for second-tier claimants today is much more diverse in Germany than in Britain. This is primarily due to the existence of a large volume of services directed at claimants more distant from the labour market that follow a social integration & employability approach. These services are more marginal in Britain, where measures that follow a work-first approach are dominant. This divergent development is indicative of major and persistent differences in terms of ideational context as well as institutional (operational) factors. New Public Management reforms have influenced operational policy to different degrees in the two countries, effectively limiting the diversity of employment services in Britain more than in Germany.

When New Labour were elected in 1997, the party’s leader, Tony Blair, claimed the dawn of radical labour market reforms that would substantially reduce long-term unemployment and welfare dependency. This thesis is an evaluation of New Labour’s active labour market policy (ALMP), and focuses on the three central components of that policy agenda: the New Deal programmes, Tax Credit programmes and the National Minimum Wage. These reforms were targeted at key client groups such as the young (defined as those aged 18 to 25 year olds), the long-term unemployed, those aged over 50, the disabled and lone-parents. This thesis adopts Economics of Conventions (EC) as its focal theory, and uses a range of quantitative methods to analyse official labour market data while drawing into question the trajectories of improvement found in the official statistics. It also provides a systematic review of existing evaluative research including that conducted by the Department for Work and Pensions, Low Pay Commission and HM Treasury. This thesis found that rates of unemployment declined while New Labour were in power, arguably as a result of strong economic growth but potentially as a result of their ALMP. Rates of economic activity and inactivity did not significantly change, even after the introduction of additional obligations on lone parents. However, due to the introduction of programmes like the New Deal for Young People, individuals were re-categorised, drastically altering labour market statistics and trends. Indeed, when it comes to the justification and evaluation of their ALMP, New Labour made clear moral judgements about ‘the deserving poor’ and ‘the undeserving poor’ based on links between rights and responsibilities of benefit claimants. Indeed, the economic policies of New Labour continued and promoted neo-liberal precepts of labour market management, i.e. they focused on individual behaviour and personal responsibility, at the expense of potentially more effective policy alternatives.

Active labour market programmes are an important component of government labour market policy internationally and in New Zealand. The growth in unemployment, and in particular male and long term unemployment, since the mid 1980's in New Zealand have contributed to the enhanced role of active labour market programmes in government policy. In the early 1990's the New Zealand government introduced a menu of interventions including subsidy, work experience and training programmes. Concomitant with this development has been increased pressure from political, business and social groups to assess the effectiveness of this approach in lowering unemployment. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the effect of active labour market policy utilised in New Zealand from 1989 to 1997. Whether or not these active labour market interventions were beneficial to those males who participated in them, the effect of treatment upon the treated, is the parameter estimated. The range of programmes makes it possible to analyse a number of programme evaluation issues. These include the overall question of the impact of subsidy, work experience and training programmes in general, but also other specific research questions. In particular the range of subsidy programmes makes it possible to identify that subsidies to private sector firms are more effective than those to public sector organisations. The effectiveness of start-up subsidies for the unemployed are also evaluated and found to be beneficial. The effects of participation upon selected education and ethnic groups are also estimated. Since there is no one estimation approach that works in all circumstances, both regression and matching estimators are used. In order to achieve this it is necessary to create two estimation datasets as the data requirements vary for each technique. The main findings from the research are that participation in active labour market programmes is beneficial in reducing the length of time that participants are registered as unemployed. Work experience programmes have the largest impact, followed by subsidies. The effect of training programmes is smallest. The major beneficial effect occurs in the year following participation and then reduces in subsequent years. There are also some important methodological findings, including the sensitivity of results to the time frame, to the datasets chosen, and to the estimation techniques used.

The thesis analyses the regional labour market dynamics and effectiveness of active labour market policies in Poland. The main research focus is to assess the effectiveness of the elements of ALMPs and to suggest possible explanations of the heterogeneity in their outcomes. I am interested in establishing how effective are the various components of ALMPs in alleviating the regional differences in unemployment. The objective is to arrive at recommendations regarding the appropriate mix of policy response to the unemployment problem. The lessons that relate to Poland may also be applied to other countries undergoing a process of deep structural changes. In particular, I am interested in establishing how effective are the various components of ALMPs in alleviating the regional differences in unemployment. The experiences of the Spanish labour market reforms are used to understand the likely trajectory induced by a similar liberalisation process and labour market institutional reform in Poland. I argue that the institutional reforms in Spain led to better labour market performance and the same outcome may be expected in Poland if similar reforms are implemented. In the econometric part of thesis, I investigate the persistence of unemployment in the Polish and Spanish labour markets, which demonstrate that the unemployment problem is more serious than indicated by the aggregate figures. I also measure the effectiveness of the labour market policies and draw conclusions for policy makers, arguing that the unemployment problem can be alleviated if the appropriate policy mix is applied. In particular, I have shown to what extent regional employment, unemployment and participation rate dynamics are common to all regions in Spain and Poland. The results indicate very strong regional unemployment persistence, especially in poorer regions in both countries. Both of the investigated markets reacted to shocks in a similar way. However, higher persistence in the response of unemployment to shocks has been measured in Spain than in Poland. On the other hand, Polish regional labour markets are more dissimilar than the Spanish ones, indicating more inequality in access to employment. The results on the efficiency of ALMPs also demonstrate differences between agricultural, modern and industrial regions and different patterns of impact in line with the results on the regional labour market dynamics. The agricultural regions, with higher unemployment respond to the ALMPs weaker than the other regions. These findings are in line with the results of VAR analysis of regional labour market dynamics, which show a great persistence in unemployment, especially in the poorer regions, indicating that they do not respond in the same way as the other regions. I now offer a novel explanation to this structural outcome: the existing persistence in inter-regional differences in unemployment may be (partly) resulting from the fact that the policy measures are not adjusted and are not used selectively consistent with the local economic environment. The results permit the drawing out of a tentative conclusion that ALMPs in Poland should be reassessed as for their efficiency. The policies should be carefully designed and should take into account the different types of regions, which might have different needs and requirements. A troublesome result is that the regions where policy support is most needed are also those, which are least responsive to policy tools.

In recent decades, research from across the social sciences has demonstrated a strong, consistent and causal link between unemployment and a wide range of negative outcomes. These outcomes go beyond economic problems, incorporating issues such as low well-being, poor health and weak social capital. During the same time, successive UK governments have expanded the use of active labour market programmes (ALMPs): a wide range of interventions that aim to move unemployed people closer to the labour market. ALMPs have been widely evaluated since becoming a central part of UK social policy, yet the majority of studies focus almost exclusively on economic outcomes, such as re-employment and wage levels. This is despite the weight of evidence suggesting unemployment is as much a social problem as an economic one. This discrepancy has led to a small but growing body of research suggesting that ALMPs might play a role in modifying some of the health and social costs of unemployment: beyond simply moving people closer to the labour market. Using a mixed methods research design, this study examines whether ALMPs achieve this by considering four key questions. First, are ALMPs associated with higher well-being, health and social capital compared to the alternative of 'open unemployment'? Second, if there is an association, how robust is this and is there any evidence of a causal function? Third, does the context of an ALMP - such as the specific type of scheme and the kind of participant - matter for understanding outcomes? And fourthly, how and why do people's experiences of unemployment and ALMPs shape their health and well-being? The findings presented in this thesis offer five original contributions to the study of the health and social effects of ALMPs. First, there is a dichotomy in the effects of ALMPs: participants have higher well-being than the openly unemployed but similar health and social capital levels. Second, ALMPs are most effective in changing how participants feel about and evaluate their lives but are largely unsuccessful in mitigating negative emotions like anxiety. These two findings are evident in both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, suggesting the possibility of a causal function of ALMPs. Together, the findings suggest that the positive well-being effects of ALMPs are not necessarily linked to improved health or social capital but because participants begin to think about their lives in a different, more positive way. Third, well-being gains are experienced by both short-term and long-term unemployed people but disappear upon re-employment. This finding has an important implication for policy, with ALMPs seemingly effective as a short-term protective well-being measure. Fourth, this is the first UK study to explore whether ALMPs work more effectively for different types of unemployed people. The findings presented in Chapter Seven show that work-oriented ALMPs are more successful than employment-assistance programmes, whilst men, younger people, those with fewer qualifications, lower occupational status and lower pre-programme well-being experience the largest benefits of participation. Fifth, the qualitative analysis presented in Chapter Eight argues that ALMPs worked best when schemes reversed the perceived ‘losses’ associated with unemployment. Three processes of loss were identified - agency loss, functional loss and status loss – which, it is contended, help explain both the observed effects of ALMPs and the broader experience of unemployment. The thesis concludes with policy suggestions for improving the capacity of ALMPs to mediate the experience of unemployment.

In Europe, in the last few decades, the subsidiarisation process of the social policies and employment strategies has created a strong impact on the local actors’ networks that are implementing the new active policies. The consequences of this operation have to be managed by professionals who, while working with the general public, have to explain to the users the fractures of a welfare state in transition from a socialization of collective risks to an individual responsibility of protection. In this way they give a meaning to the new institutional geographical and social frontiers that are built by active political devices. In Europe, in the last few decades, the subsidiarisation process of the social policies and employment strategies has created a strong impact on the local actors’ networks that are implementing the new active policies. The consequences of this operation have to be managed by professionals who, while working with the general public, have to explain to the users the fractures of a welfare state in transition from a socialization of collective risks to an individual responsibility of protection. In this way they give a meaning to the new institutional geographical and social frontiers that are built by active political devices.

The study sheds light on how individuals from different countries experience the labour action Komjobb. The study aim to examine in which consideration experiences of the action Komjobb differs among the participants. The study is based on eight qualitative interviews and analyzed by using the method of phenomenography. We have based this research on a theory about Social constructivism. Other theories that we have used are Bauman's theory about the changing value of work in the modern and postmodern society and Andersson's theory of unemployment as a social category. The result is also based on previous research about labour market policies. We have concluded that Komjobb to a particular part meets individual needs. Other conclusions are that there are some differences in whether people from different countries perceive the action as satisfactory. The participants feel that Komjobb strengthens their position at the labour market and in a positive way affect their other routines in everyday life.

How does the movement of lone parents from economic inactivity to employment via an active labour market programme (ALMP) affect their health? This study examined the psychosocial health impact of two ALMPs on lone parents in the UK; and whether the change in their psychosocial environment as measured by a newly developed scale of the latent and manifest benefits of employment (LAMB) explain any health impacts. The data for the study were obtained from sixty-two lone parents participating in the programmes who were followed longitudinally for five months. These were compared with a control group (n=56) of economically inactive lone parents at the beginning and end of the course. Structured questionnaires comprising scales of psychological health, self-esteem, mastery, positive and negative affect, self-efficacy, perceived psychosocial environment (LAMB) and social support were administered to the programme participants at three time intervals, i.e., at the beginning, during and end of the programme. In-depth qualitative interviews were also conducted at each time interval with both the programme participants and control group lone parents. The study indicates that entry into the ALMPs produces significant improvements in psychological health, as well as on all other measures as compared to the economically inactive group. Significant changes were also observed on the LAMB scale with enhanced access to latent functions of employment. The quantitative results show that access to social contact and support acts as the main mechanism through which a positive health change occurs. The lack of social contact, i.e., social isolation and financial strain are posited to be responsible for the ill health of the economically inactive lone parents. The research is discussed in relation to the development of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methodologies, as well as the implications for current UK government emphasis on encouraging lone parents into work via active labour market programmes.

This thesis is focusing on suggestions, which will lead to decrease in unemployment in the district of Zlín. Unemployment is analysed by individual groups of population first and then are found out the problems of this labour market. Based on the analysis will be presented proposals to reduction of unemployment, which will be focused mainly on endangered groups of population.

This thesis is focusing on suggestions, which will lead to decrease in unemployment in the district of Prostějov. Unemployment is analysed by individual groups of population first and then are found out the problems of this labour market. Based on the analysis will be presented proposals to reduction of unemployment, which will be focused mainly on endangered groups of population.

The last 15 years have seen governments in a number of mature welfare states attempting to reintegrate people out of work for reasons of sickness and disability into employment, principally through changes to the value and conditions of incapacity benefits and the provision of active labour market programmes. Whilst the academic interest in these changes has been considerable, this thesis begins by arguing that these studies hitherto have been satisfied to categorise these emerging regimes according to a familiar Work-first v Human Capital Development activation typology (for example, Peck & Theodore, 2001), or a variation upon that, according to the presence or absence of different activation services. They largely do not apply the insights that the broader activation literature has provided in recent years, particularly those on the governance of activation. Instead, this thesis proposes that it is better to examine recent changes through the lens of institutionalisation: how well-embedded employment-related support for sick and disabled claimants has become in the structure and functioning of welfare-to-work regimes for sick and disabled benefit claimants. Though not a concept much used in academic analysis of Active Labour Market Policy (ALMP), a case is made for the value of looking at, firstly, how well activating sick and disabled claimants becomes a national government labour market policy priority and secondly, how well the organisation and governance of active labour market programmes for this group support this, in additional to analyses of the services themselves. Working from what is already known about the factors that can influence a workless benefit claimant's access to employment support, the contention of such a framework is that the successful embedding of an activation strategy for sick and disabled claimants into national Labour Market Policy (LMP) is a function of the interaction of a range of factors. Crucial here is the distinction between ALMP for these claimants, and for other activation target groups – there is good evidence to believe that the changes made to activation governance to promote active work-search for the unemployed may, however unintentionally, militate against a comprehensive system of support for 'non-employed' jobseekers considered to be further from the labour market, claimants of incapacity benefits included. Alongside this framework, a case is made for being much clearer and more precise in describing what measures apply to which parts of the incapacity benefit claimant pool. In most countries, this is a very diverse population with several distinct sub-sets with different levels of distance from the labour market, ranging from those with very severe disabilities or health conditions; others with multiple employment barriers not all stemming directly from their condition (outdated skills, for example), and those whose employability is high, their disability or health condition notwithstanding. As a small number of studies have pointed out (Evans, 2001, for example), activation regimes – defined in this study as the set of services that are provided to help nonemployed sick and disabled benefit claimants back to work; and how these are organised; delivered; targeted and financed – 'sort and select' claimants, applying different types or more or less intensive support for different categorisations of claimants. An activation regime for the claimant group can thus be very inclusive or rather narrow, depending on the extent to which these sub-pools are catered for. To demonstrate the value of this framework in reaching a more accurate understanding of the nature of these emerging regimes relative to extant approaches, a cross-national comparison of activation of sick and disabled claimants in Denmark and the United Kingdom is offered. Whilst they are considered to be very nearly diametrically opposed in a number of key ways – their approaches to activation; benefit generosity and broader welfare regime contexts – when looked at using the institutionalisation framework, they emerge as more similar than expected. Regardless of their quite different starting points, they experience many of the same challenges in creating a system in which the employment activation of the full extent of the claimant group is a priority and where a sick or disabled benefit claimant's right to back-to-work support is secure.

The concern of this thesis is analysis of labour market and several suggestions for reduction rate of unemployment in Jihlava district (Czech Republic) through the instruments of active employment policy used by local branch of Labour office.

This paper tries to contribute to the collective knowledge on Bonoli’s (2010) concept “The Activation Turn “, both as a phenomenon and a turning point for ALMP in Sweden. It is argued that the Activation Turn has been legitimized in four phases in Sweden (Identification, First organisation, Second organisation and Stabilisation phase, between years of 1991-2017). This thesis argues that the blueprint for understanding and exploring the Activation Turn as a phenomonenon is to capture and compare the discourse and how it has developed within the state during these four phases. Using two guiding research questions: How can we describe the characteristics of ALMP during each phase? And how have ALMP have changed in Sweden since the beginning of the 90’s? This paper has tried to answer these two questions by doing a content analysis that captures the dominating characteristics of ALMP during each phase and how they have changed. The analysis has been done with a help of a coding scheme, which is derived from a theoretical framework on the three elements of institutional legitimacy: regulative, normative, and cognitive element. After counting the number of coded references from 38 state documents, and then analysing and discussing the results, we came to two overall conclusions. First, there has not been an Activation Turn, shift or transformation of ALMP, since the beginning of the 90’s within the state discourse. Second, the development of ALMP in Sweden can be characterized as fairly stable and resilient against changes.

Following diploma thesis is focused on retraining as a form of vocational adult education and on its possibilities in the struggle against unemployment. This thesis aims to describe retraing in terms of being an effective measure of active labour-market policy as well as to examine thorougly the actual contribution of retraining scheme for increasing both employment rate and employability. This effort subsequently entails the disclosure of some weaknesses in the implementation of this measure. Diploma thesis therefore contains also some recommendation for improving the existing practice. The theoretical part of the thesis starts by providing general overview of fundamentals of a theme such as labour market, unemployment or labour policy. Then it moves on theoretical description of retraining scheme itself. Empirical part of the thesis is founded on analysis of the local labour market (the territory of the capital city Prague) and on the particular means of action in the implementation of retraing scheme here.

Immigrants are more likely to be unemployed, have temporary jobs and low income, which makes labour market integration an important political challenge. Access to paid work is central for the economic situation and social position in society, but knowledge of factors and policies that improve labour market integration for newly arrived immigrants still remains limited. Prior research point out that integration is a process involving both micro and macro dimension, where individuals gradually approach employment. However, no measure of distance to the labour market exist which can give insight on individuals far away from the labour market. With data from the Public Employment Service, this thesis will develop an index as a way to scale the distance between unemployed and employed. It will look into the dynamics of labour market integration by investigating the hub of active policies aiming at directly affecting the economic situation of immigrant; the introduction programme. A year after finishing the introduction program, there are significant differences in the distance to the labour market and probability of employment between the index groups. The results indicate three main findings; the number of activities, the time until you start an activity and what activities are included in the introduction plan matter for labour market integration. Comparing groups within the index reveals that women, lower educated and individuals arriving as quota refugees are further away from the labour market. In conclusion the index is a useful tool to assess labour market distance and provides a measure with predictive power, even after controlling for individual characteristics.

Economic cycle has significantly affected the national as well as the international labour market and has caused increased unemployment which primarily concerns endangered groups of people on the labour market. This Thesis is based on the hypothesis that persons older than 50 years are more prone to be socially excluded due to long-term unemployment and a more complex return to job than younger groups of people. With respect to the continuous aging population and prolongation of retirement age, it is necessary to analyse the obstacles and options leading to longer job engagement. The theoretical part of the Thesis characterises the labour market and its imperfections using a descriptive method. In the analytical part, effectiveness and purposefulness of the tool of active employment politics in Jindřichův Hradec are investigated. Evaluation of the analysis follows. The major aim of this Diploma Thesis is to identify the status of the social group in question in the Czech labour market via secondary analysis and also to evaluate to what extend active employment politics contributes to such a status in the regional labour market in Jindřichův Hradec.

This diploma thesis deals with problem of unemployment in the district of Břeclav in the years 2007 - 2011. It presents a concrete situation and analyses employment market in the district. It suggests solutions for problematic category, which would cause to improve employment in the district of Břeclav.

Long-term unemployment creates a series of individual, social, and economic problems. Long-term unemployment has been treated with a wide variety of public policies: this thesis focuses on one approach - active labour market policies. Active labour market policies in the UK have emerged in stages, as the welfare state has incrementally evolved from a largely state-dominated and passive social security system to a market-led, work-first system where an escalating percentage of benefit recipients are expected to be actively seeking work. The theory and evidence underpinning these developments are explored in the first fives chapters. In the last decade, British governments have sought the assistance of private and voluntary sector organisations in the delivery of active labour market policies, using a system of payment-by-results to encourage these organizations to move individuals into, and sustain, employment. These are the core features underpinning the case study of this thesis, the Flexible New Deal. The Flexible New Deal is a programme for all long-term unemployed persons, which operated between the autumns of 2009 and 2011. In chapter six the objectives, structure and expected outcomes of FND are detailed, and these are used to contextualize the core research problem. With the use of data analysis and fieldwork the thesis seeks to answer whether the national contracted market in labour market attachment has created a more effective and efficient system for transferring the unemployed from benefits into work than the systems before it. Within the broad parameters of the primary question, two further questions are considered. The first, whether the contracting process can identify the best and worst providers in the welfare market, and the second, whether work-first models of welfare-to-work are effective in different economic environments. Using careful data analysis, the results chapter shows that the Flexible New Deal did not meet the government’s own objectives for the programme, and it did not outperform the programmes it was designed to replace. In some areas of the country, the distance from attaining the targets were much greater than others, and these differences are shown to be largely reflective of the labour market characteristics of the operating areas. The thesis concludes by returning to the theme of path dependence established in Chapter 4 as the explanatory factor behind the reform of welfare-to-work programmes. It explains that despite market-driven active labour market policies not meeting their own objectives, the policies are likely to continue to be deployed by future governments.

This diploma work deals with problem of unemloyment in the district of Brno-venkov in the years 2002-2006. It includes analysis of unemloyment structure in relation to age, education, sex, state of health and unemloyment lenght. The diploma work also contains proposed solutions and measures that could contribute to the reduction of the unemloyment rate in district of Brno-venkov.

The diploma thesis deals with active policy of unemployment in Vysočina region. Theoretical part describes unemployment, its measuring and instruments of active policy of unemployment in the Czech republic. The second part of the diploma thesis characterizes Vysocina region, its administrative division and social and economic structure. This part also describes labor market and unemployment in the region and its divisions. Some datas concerning unemployment in particular divisions of Vysočina region are compared to each other and to the average level of unemployment in the Czech republic. Then I will focus on the particular instruments of active policy of unemployment used in Vysočina region, their successfulness in lowering unemployment and financial demandness. All the instruments are then compared to each other. There is the evaluation of the contribution of active policy of unemployment to the labour market in Vysocina region at the end of the diploma thesis

Contrairement à ses homologues européens, le Royaume-Uni n'a pas adopté en 1989, le texte de la charte communautaire des droits sociaux fondamentaux des travailleurs abrégée charte sociale. Il s'est tenu, jusqu'en 1997, à l'écart des décisions européennes en matière sociale. Au lendemain de son arrivée au pouvoir, le gouvernement de Tony blair a mis fin à cette exception britannique. Le parti travailliste, fervent opposant à l'adhésion du royaume-uni au marché commun dans les années 1970, a pu rallier ses partisans au chapitre social de la construction européenne deux décennies plus tard grâce à cette charte. Depuis, le Royaume-Uni a su démontrer son engagement européen par rapport aux politiques sociales. Il a approuvé le traité d'Amsterdam qui a vu la mise en place de la Stratégie Européenne pour l'Emploi. Pour autant, il reste toujours celui qui incarne en Europe, le « modèle libéral anglo-saxon », en vigueur aux États-Unis. Il est vrai que malgré cette adhésion, les politiques thatchériennes n'ont pas été modifiées en profondeur par le New labour mais juste infléchies et il existe toujours en Europe, une spécificité britannique au niveau de la législation du travail et des relations sociales. Paradoxalement, malgré cette spécificité britannique, le Conseil européen, en 2002, a estimé que les programmes mis en place au Royaume-Uni sont compatibles avec les objectifs européens pour l‘emploi.Ce travail de recherche s'intéresse aux enjeux que représente la Stratégie Européenne pour l'Emploi au Royaume-Uni. Notre analyse nous amènera à mettre en évidence la situation britannique par rapport aux recommandations européennes en matière de politiques pour l'emploi. L'intérêt de ce travail de recherche est de souligner un paradoxe : à la fois comprendre les spécificités du marché du travail britannique, occupant une position unique en Europe mais aussi se rendre compte que les politiques de l'emploi menées au Royaume-Uni sont tout à fait compatibles avec les recommandations européennes et compatibles avec la Stratégie Européenne pour l‘Emploi
Unlike her European counterparts, Britain did not sign the Social Charter in 1989 and benefited from an opt out of the social rights included in this Charter until 1997. When the first New Labour government came into office, Tony Blair put an end to this British opt out. The Labour Party, which had been against the British entry into the EEC in the seventies, managed to convince its members to change their views on the European Union two decades later thanks to this Charter. By signing the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, the UK adopted the Social Charter and accepted the changes brought by the “Social Chapter” included in the Treaty. The Treaty of Amsterdam also introduced the European Employment Strategy. Since then, the UK has endorsed the Social Charter and implemented a range of UE social measures. Despite social policies, the UK compared to its European partners is considered as “the Anglo-Saxon model” available in the US because Margaret Thacher's economic policies have not been deeply modified and at the European level, there are British particularities as far as labour law and industrial relations are concerned. Yet despite such disparities, the European Council considered in 2002 that the employment policies carried out in the UK were in accordance with the European Employment Strategy. This thesis examines how the European Employment Strategy is operating in the UK. The analysis focuses on how the European guidelines are implemented in the UK labour market regulation. The aim is to shed light on a paradox: on the one hand, the UK labour market has its own specificities which are not similar to other European countries; and on the other, the employment policies pursued in the UK comply with the European guidelines within the European Employment Strategy

In the presented master's thesis, I analyse termination of employment. There are analysed factors affecting unemployment structure of expectanes from various categories aspects. The thesis includes also suggestions of solutions and precautions which should lead to reduction of unemployment rate in the district.

In this thesis, I deal with the issue of unemployment in the district of Beroun. The thesis is an analysis of the current and past status in the period 2007 - 2011. The aim is to identify possible options for reducing unemployment in that district.

Tese de Mestrado em Administração Pública
Este trabalho conducente à obtenção do grau de mestre em Administração Pública tem como objetivo avaliar o impacto da política de estágios profissionais desenvolvida em Portugal pela administração local, no grau de empregabilidade dos jovens, matéria sobre a qual não existe qualquer estudo avaliativo. Num contexto de escassez de recursos financeiros, assume particular pertinência perceber se os gastos governamentais no âmbito desta política de emprego têm permitido atingir os objetivos definidos. Para o efeito, desenvolveu-se um estudo do tipo experimental, através do qual se procurou conhecer a situação face ao emprego dos jovens que frequentaram os estágios, um e três meses após o fim do estágio, por comparação com a situação de outros jovens que se candidataram mas não os frequentaram. Deste estudo concluiu-se que, no curto prazo, não se verifica uma relação positiva entre a frequência dos estágios e o aumento do grau de empregabilidade dos jovens, o que põe em causa a manutenção deste programa por parte do governo português. Estes resultados devem ser confirmados no médio prazo, no sentido de aferir se a taxa de empregabilidade dos jovens se mantém ao mesmo nível. Na avaliação da política de estágios na administração local pode ainda ser relevante ter em conta outros efeitos, como sejam o facto de permitir aos jovens integrarem-se, pelo menos temporariamente, no mercado de trabalho, contrariando-se a sua tendência natural para o aumento da desmotivação, deterioração das qualificações e perda da experiência de trabalho, bem como o contributo dos estágios para o reforço da coesão social, proporcionado pelo aumento da interação social.A introdução de alterações ao design da política pública dos estágios do PEPAL, proporcionando uma maior intervenção das autarquias locais na escolha dos estagiários, poderia contribuir para que esta tivesse melhores resultados em matéria do grau de empregabilidade dos estagiários.
This study, conducive to the attainment of a master’s degree in Public Administration, aims to evaluate the impact of the public policy of apprenticeships developed in Portugal by local government on young people’s employability, a matter on which there is currently no study available. In a context of constricted financial resources, it becomes especially important to understand whether government’s spending on this labor market policy has permitted to reach the goals set. With this purpose, we developed an experimental study, through which compared the employment situation of young people who attended the apprenticeship, one and three months after it ended, to the employment situation of other youngsters who applied, but did not attend them. From this study we concluded that, in the short-term, there is no positive relationship between the attendance of apprenticeships and the increase in employability, which questions the continuation of this program by the Portuguese government. These results should be confirmed in the medium-term, in order to evaluate whether the youth’s rate of employability remains the same. In evaluating the public policy on apprenticeships developed by local government, it may also be relevant to take into account other outcomes, such as the fact that it enables young people to integrate themselves, at least temporarily, in the labor market, which permits to counter their natural tendency to increase demotivation, deterioration of skills and loss of work experience, as well as the contribution of the apprenticeships to the strengthen of social cohesion provided by increased social interaction. The introduction of changes in the design of the public policy of apprenticeships developed by local government to provide greater involvement of local authorities in the selection of trainees, might contribute to higher rates of employability of the trainees.

This diploma work deals with problem of unemployment in the district of Vyškov in the years 2007-2012. This work includes analysis of all unemloyment groups in relation to age, education, sex, state of health and unemloyment lenght. Furthermore the diploma works with several proposed solutions that could break largely unsatisfactory state of the unemloyment rate in the mentioned district.

This thesis is focused on unemployment in the district of Blansko. The theoretical part deals with to description of theoretical knowledge related to labour market, unemployment and state employment policy. The analytic part focuses on the statistical and graphical description of data concerning the current state of unemployment. The last part is devoted to proposals of solutions that could lead to a reduction in unemployment in this district.

Mestrado em Economia e Políticas Públicas
Este trabalho pretende avaliar o Programa de Apoio ao Empreendedorismo e Criação da Própria Empresa "PAECPE" promovido pelo IEFP enquanto medida de ativação de emprego. Efetuámos uma revisão de literatura sobre medidas de ativação de emprego, empreendedorismo, características dos empreendedores, contexto institucional favorável e a função do crédito. Apresentamos o PAECPE e a sua execução até 31-12-2013, enquadrada no contexto económico de Portugal nos últimos anos, que foram marcados pelo programa de assistência financeira internacional, pela recessão e pelo aumento do desemprego. Lançámos um inquérito a 1.130 beneficiários do Programa. O questionário versou sobre o impacto do PAECPE nas suas vidas, bem como sobre a avaliação que estes fazem das linhas de crédito protocoladas (Microinvest e Invest+). Analisámos detalhadamente: O que os beneficiários apontam como sendo o aspeto menos positivo destas linhas: rapidez na formalização e na concessão do crédito; O fim último a que o Programa se destina: criação de emprego e respetivos custos diretos. Complementámos com a análise da carteira de crédito de um Banco de operações enquadradas no PAECPE, constituída por 311 operações; este trabalho permitiu-nos ter uma outra perspetiva, diríamos que "interna", do funcionamento do Programa. Concluímos que o PAECPE é eficiente (o custo público é reduzido) mas pouco utilizado. Apresentamos algumas sugestões de ajustamento, no sentido de torná-lo mais eficaz, e que passam sobretudo por simplificar o processo de enquadramento das operações e por aumentar a atratividade para quem tem a função de o distribuir e dinamizar (os Bancos).
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the "Programa de Apoio ao Empreendedorismo e Criação da Própria Empresa", PAECPE, sponsored by IEFP, as an active labour market policy. We begin this work by a literature survey on active labour market policies, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, institutional context favourable to entrepreneurship and the function of credit in the instigation of entrepreneurship. We then present PAECPE and its execution as of 31-12-2013, in the context of Portugal's economic environment, characterized by the international financial assistance programme, by the economic recession and the growth of unemployment. Finally, to evaluate the Programme, we launched a questionnaire to 1.130 beneficiaries, inquiring about the Programme's impact on their lives, as well as their evaluation on the credit lines associated. We have analyzed in depth: The worst classified dimension on the credit lines: quickness of approval and disposal of funds; The major goal of the Programme: job creation at controlled costs. We have complemented our work with the analysis of the PAECEP credit portfolio of a Bank, constituted by 311 deals. This allowed us to have an internal perspective of the Programme functioning. We concluded that PAECPE is an efficient Programme (the public costs are small) but not much utilized by potential beneficiaries; therefore we present some suggestions for its effectiveness improvement, namely to simplify the framework of the credit lines, in order to accelerate the timings of approval and disposal of funds, and to increase its attractiveness for the distribution channel (the Banks).

The thesis conducts an analysis of active labour-market policy and its support in the framework of the European Social Fund. The first section is specialized in labour policy and described documents of European Union in this framework. The second section of the paper focuses on active labour-market policy -- its development, implementation, tool kit as well as its reaction to European Union requirements and a subsequent efficiency evaluation of a number of programmes aimed to support the active labour-market policy. The next section assesses the achievability of quantitative targets of the Lisbon strategy which the Czech Republic should meet by 2010, i.e. whether we are on track to meet these targets. We aim to determine the achievability of targets using an analysis of employment. The following important section looks at labour policy expenditures in the Czech Republic, their change over time and particularly after the European Union accession in 2004, since when the Czech Republic has been able to draw financial support from the European Social Fund. The last section therefore deals with the European Social Fund, in particular with the implementation of projects, assessment of their impact on employment growth and recommendations for improvements in the efficiency of their execution.

This Diploma thesis is a proposal of project for supporting employment of school leavers, which propose to financial support from structural fund of European Union. The objective of project is more efficient of active policy of employment – socially serviceable working station.