Labour market, active employment policy and projects under way co-funded by the European Social Fund in the region of Vysočina

To quote the author Oldřich Fišer: "Everyone lives off work, but not always their own work." The subject of the present thesis is the latter part of the sentence, that is unemployment. In the region of Vysocina, the current unemployment rate is 8.9%, which is, more than twice the average for the whole Czech Republic. As part of the Operational Programme Human Resources and Employment in the period 2007-2013, there are currently five projects under way co-funded by the European Social Fund, their aim being to reduce the unemployment rate. Of these projects, three are relatively successful and two unsuccessful. The failure is caused by focus on the long-term unemployed in one case and by a long delay in launching the project in the other. It is seen as a problem that the current evaluation of project success is based on fulfilment of only a few indicators. It is proposed that the evaluation of success should be interconnected with the sum of money which was put into the projects. The conclusion is as follows: for these projects to be successful, the participants have to be employed for so long as to repay the state the relevant expenses in full. The final part of the thesis deals with the issue of whether the projects should target short-term or long-term unemployed. Based on the findings obtained, the suggested solution for long-term unemployment is to focus on the short-term unemployed and to make adjustments in the system of social benefits.