Are Employment Policies Set Up Effectively? Case Study of Selected EU Countries and Slovakia

Abstract

Although there is a consensus on the need for an active employment policy, there are still differences in opinion on which tools should be used to achieve employment policy objectives. The aim of the paper is to examine whether the instruments of active employment policy in the EU countries using the LMP database have been effectively set up, as there is a clear difference in the allocation of public expenditure and how it is provided according to specific support programs. The results suggest that countries such as Austria, Sweden and Germany are examples of the right policy setting (from the allocation of funds to their evaluation). If we evaluate the position of Slovakia, according to the results of the studies, we can say that the most effective tools are in the field of education and therefore the volume of their funding should be increased. Instruments from the Employment incentives section, where Slovakia has the most funds, were found to be effective, but only on the short term, therefore we recommend reassessing the 51.80% stake in this section. The least effective instruments are in the Direct job creation section, in which Slovakia also invests the lowest amount of funds.

Keywords

• active employment policy instruments
• allocation of expenditure to active instruments
• unemployment insurance
• literature review.