Search

The system of active labor market policies (ALMP) in the Slovak Republic consists to a large extent of the creation of socially purposeful and publicly useful jobs and of retraining of unemployed workers. So far, the effects of these types of active labor market policies have hardly been analyzed. This paper uses a unique administrative data from 20 Slovak districts to analyze to what extent it is beneficial for unemployed workers who want a regular job to accept a temporary ALMP-job or enter a retraining program. We find that indeed it is beneficial for workers to do so.

The system of active labor market policies (ALMP) in the Slovak Republic consists to a large extent of the creation of socially purposeful and publicly useful jobs and of retraining of unemployed workers. So far, the effects of these types of active labor market policies have hardly been analyzed. This paper uses a unique administrative data from 20 Slovak districts to analyze to what extent it is beneficial for unemployed workers who want a regular job to accept a temporary ALMP-job or enter a retraining program. We find that indeed it is beneficial for workers to do so.

The system of active labor market policies (ALMP) in the Slovak Republic consists to a large extent of the creation of socially purposeful and publicly useful jobs and of retraining of unemployed workers. So far, the effects of these types of active labor market policies have hardly been analyzed. This paper uses a unique administrative data from 20 Slovak districts to analyze to what extent it is beneficial for unemployed workers who want a regular job to accept a temporary ALMP-job or enter a retraining program. We find that indeed it is beneficial for workers to do so.

It is often claimed that the usage of labour market programmes will necessarily crowd out regular employment (see, for example, Holmlund & Lindén (1993)). As a result, it could be argued that, despite their probable negative impact on unemployment, the overall benefits of using labour market programmes may in fact be dubious. In this paper, we show that the usage of labour market programmes need not necessarily crowd out regular employment. On the contrary; we find that there is the possibility of crowding in regular employment, thereby reducing total unemployment. This can be strengthened by using labour market programmes in conjunction with a strict unemployment benefit policy.

It is often claimed that the usage of labour market programmes will necessarily crowd out regular employment (see, for example, Holmlund & Lindén (1993)). As a result, it could be argued that, despite their probable negative impact on unemployment, the overall benefits of using labour market programmes may in fact be dubious. In this paper, we show that the usage of labour market programmes need not necessarily crowd out regular employment. On the contrary; we find that there is the possibility of crowding in regular employment, thereby reducing total unemployment. This can be strengthened by using labour market programmes in conjunction with a strict unemployment benefit policy.

It is often claimed that the usage of labour market programmes will necessarily crowd out regular employment (see, for example, Holmlund & Lindén (1993)). As a result, it could be argued that, despite their probable negative impact on unemployment, the overall benefits of using labour market programmes may in fact be dubious. In this paper, we show that the usage of labour market programmes need not necessarily crowd out regular employment. On the contrary; we find that there is the possibility of crowding in regular employment, thereby reducing total unemployment. This can be strengthened by using labour market programmes in conjunction with a strict unemployment benefit policy.

People have up to now seen in the armies of foreign workers a useful labour reserve, without which the highly industrialised nations of northern Europe would suffer a decline of prosperity. However, the present article, in examining the economic effects of this mass transfer of workers, makes the point that it may have highly adverse consequences for host countries.

The question of the state remains central in social sciences. Theda Skocpol’s famous ‘Bringing the state back in’ (in Evans et al. 1985) has been remarkably successful; there is no need to do it again. There is no need either to claim ‘new’ debates of the state as such. However, the interest for the state is modified by two intellectual dynamics: first, more and more research deals with the making and evolution of the state in less linear ways in different parts of the world (Vu 2010). In particular, the conditions of creation of states, their dynamics, and examples of state failures all bring in explanations and characterization of states which are more and more divergent from the standard European nation state seen through the experience of France, the UK or Germany. Recent literature from American historians and political scientists emphasize the particular story and characteristics of the US state. In a provocative paper ‘ironies of state building’, King and Lieberman in particular use insights from the making of states in Eastern Europe to characterize the American state (2011). In other words, the accumulation of cases about state creation and transformations and the development of innovative comparative projects reveal a messier but also a stimulating world of social science concerning the state (Zurn and Leipfried 2005). For instance, the dichotomy strong states/weak states (Badie and Birnbaum 1982) has been more or less abandoned in favour of more nuanced typologies or a serious rethinking about key variables...

The foresight and scenario building methods can be an interesting reference for social sciences, especially in terms of innovative methods for labour process analysis. A scenario – as a central concept for the prospective analysis – can be considered as a rich and detailed portrait of a plausible future world. It can be a useful tool for policy-makers to grasp problems clearly and comprehensively, and to better pinpoint challenges as well as opportunities in an overall framework. The features of the foresight methods are being used in some labour policy making experiences. Case studies developed in Portugal will be presented, and some conclusions will be drawn in order to organise a set of principles for foresight analysis applied to the European project WORKS on the work organisation re-structuring in the knowledge society, and on the work design methods for new management structures of virtual organisations.

The purpose of the paper is to analyse how labour market and labour market institutions reacted during recent crises. In early 1990s Estonia introduced a set of rather unique policy options like currency board as a ground for monetary policy, low taxes, open foreign trade policy, low public sector debts, annually balanced state budget etc. These measures caused very limited options to implement both monetary and fiscal policy. Macroeconomic adjustment will take place in such situation through the labour market. In the case of Estonia, we can observe a very high labour market flexibility, which played a crucial role in recent economic recession. The measures taken included a reduction of nominal wages, working hours and redundancies among employees. This indicates that the traditional institutional factors that protect workers and also could decrease the flexibility of the labour market, such as labour market regulation, social protection and union activities, are not very well developed in Estonia and do not have a significant effect on the outcomes of the labour market. The labour market reform was launched in Estonia in 2009. The main idea of the New Employment contract was that the termination of employment relations became less expensive for employers. Although empirical evidence show that the Employment Contracts Act entered into force at a time when most lay-offs had already been effected. J08, J21, J50, J63