Labor Market Policies and Unemployment in the Czech Republic

We analyze the impact of the active labor market policies (ALMPS) and the unemployment compensation system (UCS) on unemployment duration's of different groups in the Czech population by estimating hazard functions with new macroeconomic data. We conclude these programs were effective in improving the functioning of the labor market. The UCS system has allowed the unemployed to search for jobs but has not unduly prolonged unemployment spells. This first analysis of the effectiveness of ALMPs on unemployment duration's shows that job brokering shortened spells of the groups that tended to have longer unemployment duration's: women, Romans, handicapped, less educated, and those with an unemployment history. Overall our results suggest that the UCS and the ALMPs increased the social acceptability of the painful economic transition.