Do individualised projects help integrate the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged people? Lessons from the Czech Republic

Abstract

This article evaluates a national project for the integration of long-term unemployed and disadvantaged groups of jobseekers implemented in the Czech Republic since 2019. It discusses how individual work and active labour market policy measures for these groups have changed, and what the outcomes were. We combined a quantitative evaluation of the targeting and outcomes of the measures with a qualitative evaluation of changes in the project implementation through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions conducted at the Labour Office branches. The findings show the need to broaden the availability of hard measures such as private-sector placement subsidies for the most disadvantaged jobseekers, and to improve soft measures (counselling and training), especially if front-line workers do not have sufficient competences for individual work. We are cautious about generalising the findings, as the pandemic complicated the implementation of soft measures.