Sustainability of Employment Using the Tools of Active Labor Market Policy

Abstract

The government of each state strives for the decrease of the unemployment to the lowest level possible, and thus for achieving of the natural unemployment rate. Slovakia, after joining the European Union, also had to adapt to this trend and to develop even more effort for solving the issue of a high unemployment rate. One of the possible approaches to promoting the employment of people without work is the use of active labor market policy instruments. The tools are intended for enterprises and individuals and should encourage enterprises to create new jobs or individuals to show more initiatives. An example for Slovakia, as well as for other EU states, is represented by the Nordic countries. In these countries, the active labor market policies have been functioning for long years. In the paper, the approaches of Slovakia, Sweden, EU and OEDC countries are identified and analyzed pertaining to the tools of active labor market policies in the context of sustainability. Based on the analysis of available foreign and domestic statistics, we found that Slovakia spends little finance on labor market policy compared to EU or OECD countries. Most of the resources are dedicated to passive labor market policy, i.e. unemployment support or early retirement, and only a minority of active programs. Slovakia has the most support for active labor market policy subsidies for enterprises and activation work for long-term unemployed, but attention has also to be paid to education that is under-funded in the long run.