EVALUATION OF THE ACTIVE LABOR MARKET POLICIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA

This paper discusses the methods of evaluating active labor market policy. In addition, an important aspect of the analysis, conducted in this paper, concerns the assessment of the relative success of these measures in the case of the Republic of Srpska. The statistical analysis evaluated the success of three chosen projects implemented in the Republic of Srpska. A major problem in evaluating the effectiveness of individual measures is inadequate IT support. The unemployed persons are not monitored for all the characteristics that play a significant role in determining the target groups for particular measures. The measures are primarily intended for young people and categories related to the recent war conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The relative assessment of the success of individual measures has confirmed that these measures are not greatly influenced by raising general employment, but these programs, at least to some extent, alleviate the problem of unemployment and improve the position of the hard-to-employ categories of the unemployed persons.

Problems of the labor market development in the conditions of the modern crisis (on the example of the countries of South-Eastern Europe)

The relevance of the topic under consideration is not in doubt because in modern conditions the world labor market is not stable for various reasons. And if at the present stage in this market there is a decline due to the development of the pandemic, then in the period before its occurrence there were other destabilizing factors. The purpose of the study is to consider the problems of the development of the labor market in the conditions of the current crisis (on the example of the countries of South-Eastern Europe). In the process of writing the study, comparative and analytical methods of research were used. A certain body of literature was also analyzed within the framework of the research topic. According to the results of the study, the author notes that the solution to the problem of economic development and, consequently, the improvement of labor market conditions in the countries of the region is investment and, as a result, the creation of jobs. Thus, the main task of policy makers in the South-Eastern European region is to attract more investment by creating incentives for firms to enter the market, reducing red tape, developing infrastructure, and investing in human capital to increase productivity. Even though all countries are trying to implement active labor market policies, their share of GDP is significantly lower than in other European countries. In conclusion, the author notes that significant changes in the labor markets of the SEE countries are impossible without external financial resources, but the main problem is the lack of public consensus due to constant political instability.

Skill Shortages, Skill Gaps, and Labor Demand

The focus in this chapter is on the consequences of employers’ decisions and on labor market institutions that create flexible, rigid, or segmented labor markets. The authors profile how each of the focal countries maintains culturally distinctive production functions and how these approaches to the creation of goods and services impact employment and overall economic performance. The importance of a labor market designed around the production of value-added product for export is highlighted, as is the pressure it places on renewal of knowledge and skill sets and flexible labor markets. Failures of the labor market in the forms of unemployment, underemployment, and low labor force participation have resulted in a variety of government interventions or active labor market policies. The authors examine the effectiveness of a number of these policies, including subsidies paid to employees, minimum wages, and employment subsidies to private businesses and public sector jobs.

Better together: Active and passive labor market policies in developed and developing economies

We investigate the macroeconomic impact of public expenditure in active labor market policies (ALMPs) and passive labor market policies (PLMPs) on main employment indicators (i.e., unemployment, employment, and labor force participation) for a large and novel panel database of 121 countries (36 developed, 64 emerging and 21 developing economies). Compared to previous studies, we include for the first time evidence from developing and emerging economies and explicitly examine the possible presence of complementarities between active and passive policies. We find that the interaction between interventions is crucial, as the effect of spending in either of the two policies is more favorable the more is spent on the other. Even the detrimental labor market effects of passive policies disappear on the condition that sufficient amounts are spent on active interventions. This complementarity seems even more important for emerging and developing economies.

The labor market in Latin America at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic: impacts, responses and perspectives

Latin America is experiencing an unprecedented crisis in its labor markets because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is reflected in a drastic contraction of employment, hours worked, and income. The outlook is even more worrying when considering that these impacts have been unequal and that the path of recovery, which is slowly emerging in the region, could be accompanied by a widening of labor and income gaps across different population groups. This crisis, therefore, would be exacerbating the high levels of inequality that existed before the outbreak of the pandemic, even though countries have made significant efforts to rapidly implement a set of policies aimed at sustaining employment and incomes. It is crucial to strengthen the labor institutional framework, particularly with regard to active labor market policies. Likewise, occupational health and safety have become a relevant element for any recovery strategies with safe and healthy employment.

The Effect of Constitutional Commitment to Social Security on Social Expenditure Schemes

This paper studies the effect of constitutional commitment to social security (CCSS) on different categories of social expenditure. For this purpose, we use a pooled cross sectional database for 17 EU-countries from 1990 till 2012. We run OLS models, 2SLS regression models and the Heckman two step model, using the rigidity of the constitution as instrumental variable to correct for possible endogeneity. A positive effect of constitutional commitment to social security is found on total social expenditure and on all four categories of social security spending: old age and survivor, incapacity, unemployment and active labor market policies (ALMPs). The largest effect sizes, expressed as a percentage of average spending, are found for expenditure on unemployment and ALMPs. This shows that constitutional commitment to social security has the largest effect on social expenditure schemes targeted at people who are perceived as less deserving by the public opinion.

Lessons from mixed-method evaluations—An example from labor market research

This article deals with the following questions: which approaches are suitable for program evaluations in the context of labor market research and why are mixed-method designs often most promising? The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches suggest that summative and formative as well as quantitative and qualitative elements should be combined with each other. We use the case of active labor market policies—an evaluation of qualification measures for the unemployed—as an example to illustrate mixed-method evaluations in research practice. The results of the evaluation show that the scientific gain of the formative part often depends heavily on the careful selection of the ‘right’ persons for expert interviews. The findings can even lead to further research projects that deal with some of the questions raised in the formative part in more detail. The summative part of the evaluation—a quantitative impact analysis—is based on extensive quantitative data sets. It is a methodological innovation to combine survey and administrative micro-data in this particular context. We use propensity score matching to analyze program effects on the participants that are positive and substantial.

Mitigating Long-term Unemployment in Europe

While unemployment rates in Europe declined after the global financial crisis until 2018/19, the incidence of long-term unemployment, the share of people who have been unemployed for more than one year to the total unemployed, remained high. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic could aggravate the long-term unemployment. This paper explores factors associated with long-term unemployment in European countries, using panel of 25 European countries over the period 2000–18. We find that skill mismatches, labor market matching efficiency, and labor market policies are associated with the incidence of long-term unemployment. Among different types of active labor market policies, training and start-up incentives are found to be effective in reducing long-term unemployment.

Learning to keep the faith? Further education and perceived employability among young unemployed

To keep up job search motivation and maintain re-employment chances, it is important that unemployed individuals do not stop believing in their ability to (re)gain satisfying employment. This article examines whether further education during unemployment has a positive effect on perceived employability (i.e. the subjective assessment of one’s chances to obtain the desired job), based on a panel survey of unemployed young adults in Austria. The article finds that educational activities – either on own initiative or as part of an active labor market program – indeed help to sustain or even increase perceived employability. However, only for long-term programs do the effects persist beyond the duration of the activity. This study thus identifies substantial psychological side effects of active labor market policies involving further education, which could be used to increase actual employability.