Economic Transition, Partisan Politics and EU Austerity: A Case Study of Slovakia's Labour Market Policies

Abstract

This working paper provides an overview of labour market policies in the Slovak Republic, from the beginning of the post-socialist transition to the recent period, characterised by growing pressure for fiscal stringency from the European Union (EU). It investigates the differences between the prevalent trends in labour market policies before and after 2010 and it finds little difference between them.

While EU-led austerity may have played a role, it rather prolonged and reinforced the existing tendency towards increasingly strict punitive measures, underfinanced active labour market policies and cuts affecting the capacity of public institutions to provide material and non-material help to jobseekers.

Keywords: labour market policy; EU policy; macroeconomics; activation; unemployment; economic development; unemployment benefit; Slovak Republic