Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo

Long-term unemployment has been a persisting problem in Europe since the 2008 economic crisis. Long-term unemployment is widespread across Europe, with Southern European countries most heavily affected (e.g. in Greece, the share of long-term unempl...

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Main Authors:	Hiebl, Julian, Hempel, Kevin
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	LABOR MARKET LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAM LABOR POLICY
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/246171592884930572/Integrating-the-Long-Term-Unemployed-into-the-Job-Market-Synthesis-of-international-experience-and-implications-for-Kosovo-Technical-Note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34177

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spelling	okr-10986-341772021-05-25T09:57:32Z Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo Hiebl, Julian Hempel, Kevin LABOR MARKET LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAM LABOR POLICY Long-term unemployment has been a persisting problem in Europe since the 2008 economic crisis. Long-term unemployment is widespread across Europe, with Southern European countries most heavily affected (e.g. in Greece, the share of long-term unemployed out of the total number of unemployed accounted for 70 percent in 2018). The composition of a country’s long-term unemployed (LTU) population can be very heterogeneous, however, there are oftentimes similarities across countries. Lower levels of education and outdated skills are typical characteristics of long-term unemployed. Older workers, migrant workers, ethnic minorities, as well as people with health problems or disabilities are also more vulnerable to long-term unemployment. Many long-term unemployed face multiple barriers to labor market integration. International experience suggests that intensive and comprehensive approaches are needed to effectively support the long-term unemployed. The European Union (EU) has put in place a ‘Recommendation on the integration of the long-term unemployed (LTU) into the labor market’ highlighting the need for prevention, individualized support and partnerships with employers and other institutions to effectively support this group. Single, isolated measures (e.g. training or wage-subsidies alone) tend to be ineffective. While there is an increasing interest to serve the long-term unemployed in Kosovo (e.g. social assistance beneficiaries), structures and resources of the Employment Agency of Kosovo (EARK) will need to be strengthened to effectively support this target group. Current structures and resources (e.g. in terms of caseload of counselors) are not suited to provide the intensive support the long-term unemployed require. In order to build its capacity to serve the LTU, EARK may need to consider a mix of short-term strategies (incl. partnerships with non-public providers to overcome internal capacity constraints) and medium and long-term strategies (i.e. build capacity, increase resources, and experiment with tailored intervention strategies). 2020-07-23T14:54:44Z 2020-07-23T14:54:44Z 2019-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/246171592884930572/Integrating-the-Long-Term-Unemployed-into-the-Job-Market-Synthesis-of-international-experience-and-implications-for-Kosovo-Technical-Note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34177 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Other Social Protection Study Europe and Central Asia Kosovo
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	LABOR MARKET LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAM LABOR POLICY
spellingShingle	LABOR MARKET LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT ACTIVE LABOR MARKET PROGRAM LABOR POLICY Hiebl, Julian Hempel, Kevin Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
geographic_facet	Europe and Central Asia Kosovo
description	Long-term unemployment has been a persisting problem in Europe since the 2008 economic crisis. Long-term unemployment is widespread across Europe, with Southern European countries most heavily affected (e.g. in Greece, the share of long-term unemployed out of the total number of unemployed accounted for 70 percent in 2018). The composition of a country’s long-term unemployed (LTU) population can be very heterogeneous, however, there are oftentimes similarities across countries. Lower levels of education and outdated skills are typical characteristics of long-term unemployed. Older workers, migrant workers, ethnic minorities, as well as people with health problems or disabilities are also more vulnerable to long-term unemployment. Many long-term unemployed face multiple barriers to labor market integration. International experience suggests that intensive and comprehensive approaches are needed to effectively support the long-term unemployed. The European Union (EU) has put in place a ‘Recommendation on the integration of the long-term unemployed (LTU) into the labor market’ highlighting the need for prevention, individualized support and partnerships with employers and other institutions to effectively support this group. Single, isolated measures (e.g. training or wage-subsidies alone) tend to be ineffective. While there is an increasing interest to serve the long-term unemployed in Kosovo (e.g. social assistance beneficiaries), structures and resources of the Employment Agency of Kosovo (EARK) will need to be strengthened to effectively support this target group. Current structures and resources (e.g. in terms of caseload of counselors) are not suited to provide the intensive support the long-term unemployed require. In order to build its capacity to serve the LTU, EARK may need to consider a mix of short-term strategies (incl. partnerships with non-public providers to overcome internal capacity constraints) and medium and long-term strategies (i.e. build capacity, increase resources, and experiment with tailored intervention strategies).
format	Working Paper
author	Hiebl, Julian Hempel, Kevin
author_facet	Hiebl, Julian Hempel, Kevin
author_sort	Hiebl, Julian
title	Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
title_short	Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
title_full	Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
title_fullStr	Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
title_full_unstemmed	Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo
title_sort	integrating the long-term unemployed into the job market : synthesis of international experience and implications for kosovo
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/246171592884930572/Integrating-the-Long-Term-Unemployed-into-the-Job-Market-Synthesis-of-international-experience-and-implications-for-Kosovo-Technical-Note http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34177
_version_	1764480269432127488

Integrating the Long-Term Unemployed into the Job Market : Synthesis of International Experience and Implications for Kosovo

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