3.6 Integration of young people in the labour market
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Youth employment measures
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Flexicurity measures focusing on young people
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Reconciliation of private and working life for young people
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Funding of existing schemes/initiatives
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Quality assurance
Youth employment measures
Employment measures focused on young people are directly linked with the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.
Youth Guarantee
Programme specification:
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Name: Youth Guarantee (Záruka pro mládež)
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Timeframe: 2014-2023
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Based in: Employment Policy Strategy 2020
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Institutions responsible for implementation and coordination: Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; partner institution is Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Main implementers are the Employment Offices of the Czech Republic working on national, regional and local levels and directly in the field with the target group.
- The main implementer of the program is the Labor Office of the Czech Republic and its workplace, which will cooperate with other actors, such as schools, educational establishments, employers, etc.The inclusion of a young person into the Youth Guarantee Program is therefore subject to registration with the appropriate Contact Workplace of the Labor Office of the Czech Republic, according to the place of residence of the young person. The Labour Office will provide the following activities to young people in particular:
- consultancy activities to determine personality and qualification requirements,
- assistance in finding and arranging employment;
- contributions to employers for job creation, for setting up traineeships and traineeships;
- start-up allowances for self-employment;
- vocational training and retraining;
- unemployment and retraining benefits, etc.
Target group characteristic:
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Young people (15–24-29 years of age), unable to find job, who are not actively seeking work, do not study, are not in training for a job. The Czech Republic is voluntarily offering the same conditions for young people up to 30 years of age while the capacities could be developed by the use of the European Social Fund by projects of respective Regional Employment Offices.
Number of participants:
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In total in 2016: 3 624 young persons
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According to the annual report of DG Employment Office in the year 2016: 1 465 within the Youth Employment Initiative (NUTS II Severozápad) and 2 159 in other regions of the Czech Republic not eligible for the European Employment Initiative.
Goals:
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Youth (15-24) unemployment rate reduction to 12.3%
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Low qualified (ISCED 0-2) unemployment reduction to 18.8 till 2020
Financing
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Multiple sources (state budget, European Social Fund: Operation Programme Employment and Operation Programme Research, Science)
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13 599 984 EUR (till 2015)
Quality assurance
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Annual updates based on regular activity and efficiency evaluation (not publicly available)
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Evaluation will be based on data and indicators from the information system, CZ Employment Offices, Operational Programme Employment indicators, Operational Programme Research, Science and Education indicators, etc.
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Evaluation outcome: Activity Report by the Employment Office to the CZ Government
Measures of the Active Employment Policy are equally accessible for all citizens including young people (non-discriminatory principle). The main providers are regional and local Employment Offices and their contact centres. The Offices of the Czech Republic also provide all social benefits of a non-insurance nature, which allows them to impact the target group in the case of their inactivity.
Youth employment is monitored with the same standards and categories as in the EU and according to international standards.
EU recommendations regarding youth employment are taken seriously and are integrated into the relevant Czech policies and support schemes.
At the national level, the measures were also realised by the Fund for Further Education (FFE), an organisation established by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (till 2019, organization is closed since then). All projects were co-funded by the ESF. Way for Youth was a national EU-funded project supporting young people to get first and good experiences with the labour market including real placements. To support youth transition to labour market, FFE was operating the National Register of Internships.
Previous projects 'Internships for youth' and 'Internships in business' were also realised for young people and students of any level before graduation.
Other employment measures are linked with the status of student up to 26 years of age (up to 28 years in case of doctoral students) which brings benefits:
- Self-employment is a secondary activity and thus for the first year there is no need to pay deposits for obligatory health insurance
- In the next years, health security benefits are paid only if a profit has been generated above the general limit and minimum deposits are not in force
- The parallel model also works for obligatory public social security insurance
Flexicurity measures focusing on young people
In the Czech Republic, flexicurity is demanded more by older parts of society or with the link to family issues rather than youth issues. Special attention is given e.g. to mothers with children up to 15 years of age, and the possibility to take care of sick children up to 10 years of age. There are thus no specific flexicurity measures focused on youth on a national level.
During the years 2016 and 2017 governmental proposals prepared by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs have put a focus on the flexicurity measures in general; none of them was directly linked to young people, but rather to general employment conditions and rights, however with impact on young people as on general society.
One of the proposals passed, in effect from 1st of February 2018, will be the possibility of one week off for new fathers.
Reconciliation of private and working life for young people
There are no specific national-level measures or initiatives on the reconciliation of private and working life of young people. Most such initiatives aim at young families and the systematic care of small children. Others are part of general social services or legal protection of minors.
Funding of existing schemes/initiatives
One of the main tools on a national level is the programming of the European Social Fund and allocation of resources for relevant stakeholders on regional and local level (especially Regional and local Employment offices) who are responsible for the implementation and direct actions. Within ESF, the biggest allocation is for the Operational Programme Employment.
Within the Financial Framework 2014-2020, 27 199 968 EUR was allocated in the Czech Republic within the European Social Fund for the Youth Employment Initiative. This was allocated within the first priority of the Operational Programme Employment for the NUTS II Region Severozápad which is the only one in the Czech Republic above the European Youth Guarantee limits for special action on youth unemployment.
The European Social Fund and Operational Programme Employment allocated 60.23%, 1 292 307 890 EUR, for the employment measures in 2014-2020. Investment Axes 1 and the second specific objective is to increase employment of supported young people through the Youth Guarantees schemes. Thus also other regions can apply and realise their own projects according to regional and local needs of young people in that place. The State Budget is usually used to co-finance successful projects.
In reality, all regional Employment Offices applied with their own Regional Individual Project scheme. The activities and scopes differ regionally, e.g. in the South Moravia Region (Jihomoravský kraj) the Youth Guarantee project supports young people up to 29 years of age. The Plzeň Region (Plzeňský kraj) Youth Guarantee project targets young people up to 29 years of age including those who lack work experience, or who have work experience, but only up to three years without the limitation of education. The projects are similar in other regions. Financing is usually at 85 per cent from the EU, 10 per cent from the State budget and 5 per cent from the Regional Authority.
Relevant calls from EU programmes for the integration of young people in the labour market:
Youth Employment Initiative for the NUTS II North-West and NUTS II Moravian-Silesian Region - Employment Offices of the Czech Republic
Validity from: 18 July 2019
Validity until: 30 June 2020
Allocation in CZK: 50 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the employment of supported young people not in employment, education or training in the NUTS II North-West region
International mobility and social inclusion of disadvantaged youth
Validity: 30.10.2018
Valid until: 31.1.2019
Allocation in CZK: 101 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the quality and quantity of the use of social innovation and international cooperation in the thematic areas of the Employment Operational Programme.
Supporting the employment of target groups disadvantaged on the labour market
Validity from: 27/09/2017
Valid until: 04/01/2018
Allocation in CZK: 298 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the employment of the persons supported, in particular the elderly, the low-skilled and the disadvantaged
International mobility for disadvantaged youth
Validity as of: 3.8.2015
Valid until: 30.10.2015
Allocation in CZK: 120 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the quality and quantity of the use of social innovation and international cooperation in the thematic areas of the Employment Operational Programme.
Increase the employability of target groups on the labour market
Validity from: 31/08/2015
Validity until: 31.3.2021
Allocation in CZK: 880 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the employment of the supported persons, especially the elderly, the low-skilled and the disadvantaged
Validity from: 8.6.2015
Valid until: 31.12.2018
Allocation in CZK: 1 339 000 000
Specific objective: To increase the employment of the young people supported through the Youth Guarantee Programme
Quality assurance
There are no specific quality assurance measures on a national level for young people's integration into the labour market, apart from the Youth Guarantee scheme and those in internships and apprenticeships described in Chapter 3.5.