After the economic depression in 2008, the social and economical processes have changed in the past few years. These changes pointed out that new strategies should be worked out to threaten the upcoming problems of the labor market. In the countries of the European Union, there is a general shortage of labor in some sectors, while others show oversupply. [1]
Building up labor market systems, which can follow the structural changes of economies of European countries is an important goal of the European Union. Accordingly, it is essential to establish cooperation mechanisms.
The Europe 2020 strategy is the European Union’s agenda for economic growth and jobs for the actual decade. The strategy focuses on sustainable and inclusive growth in order to improve Europe's competitiveness and productivity. It also emphasizes a sustainable social market economy. The European Union level targets have been translated into national targets in each European Union country, reflecting different situations and circumstances. The goal of the strategy was to reach a 75 percent employment rate among the 20–64 year old population until 2020 in Hungary. [1]
According to the data of the European Commission, the employment rate was 70.1% in 2015 in the EU28 countries. Until 2019, this rate increased to 73.9, which is very close to the targeted 75% level. In Hungary, the employment rate was only 68.9% in 2015. This level significantly increased during the second half of the decade, reaching 75.3% until 2019. The increase in the employment rate was higher in the country, compared to the average increase in the EU28. [2]
This success of raising the official employment rate in Hungary has many different reasons. One of these reasons is the high efficiency of labor market programs, which were conducted in cooperation with the European Union.
People with disadvantages at the labor market
Disability is one of the main disadvantages in the labor market. It has several different types, such as those that affect an individual’s vision, movement, communication, mental health, social relationships, etc. The subgroup of people with disabilities is a diverse group with a wide range of different needs and problems. According to the World Health Organization, disability has three main dimensions [3]:
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Impairment in a person’s body structure or function, or mental functioning (loss of vision or memory, loss of a limb)
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Activity limitation (difficulty seeing, hearing, problem-solving, etc.)
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Participation restrictions in normal daily activities (working, engaging in social and recreational activities, etc.)
There is a strong correlation between mental well-being and disability among adults [4, 5]. Psychological distress is also high among this subgroup [6]. Among men, disability is mainly discordant with their masculine identity and its main component, self-reliance. This component is more important to men with disabilites. It is also associated with mental well-being problems among adult males. [5]
Disadvantages also include undereducation, being a single parent or a member of a minority, etc. People with disadvantage are a high-risk group of unemployment or underemployment. This association exists in case of different types of disadvantages. According to a Swedish study [7], people with mobility disabilities are vulnerable groups at risk of prolonged unemployment during their lifetime, also in a country with a good welfare system.
This association between disadvantage and lack of work is also true in younger populations. Using a causal approach, Harkko et al. [8] suggests that unemployment is consistently associated with an increased risk of disadvantage. The reason behind this correlation is the higher risk of common mental disorders among young unemployed people.
According to a review about unemployment’s effects on health [9], long-term unemployed people carry a higher risk of mental illness, compared to employed people. The risk of mental health problems increases with the duration of unemployment status.
In addition, people with disadvantages are more probable to experience underemployment and higher risk to have their mental health negatively affected by this status [10].
Mediator variables between mental health and unemployment/underemployment include stress, depression, and unhealthy behaviors. Unemployment also correlated with a higher risk of later life with disadvantages. On the other hand, only a few studies focused on the correlation between total lifetime unemployment with disadvantages and life expectancy [11, 12].
According to the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, which included 2379 participants with disadvantages, a greater reduction in mental health was established for the unemployed or inactive people with disadvantages compared to people who were employed. The study highlighted the value of employment for people with disadvantages. [10]
This negative effect of unemployment on mental health can be broken only by mental health-promoting programs among the unemployed with disadvantages, and special labor market projects focusing on high unemployment risk groups [10, 13]. The latest data on this field show some positive examples. During the Healthy People 2020 project in the US, notable progress could be reached in case of access to services for complex conditions associated with disadvantage, expansion of mental health promotion programs focusing on disability and reducing the unemployment rate among job seekers with disadvantages. [13]
In summary, unemployment among people with disadvantages is an important determinant of their poor mental health. Governmental policies should oddly focus on this extremely high-risk group, in order to help their integration in the labor market. Studying and interpreting the positive examples of labor market integration programs are oddly important to support this process.
The TOP project
The TOP 6.8.2.-15-NA1 project is one of the main Hungarian labor market programs. Its main aims are to provide manpower according to the needs of the labor market, to increase the employability of disadvantaged, unemployed and inactive people who are willing to work in the region, to support the efficiency of job-seeking and to lead public employees to the labor market. [14]
The goal of the TOP project was to build up a local strategy based on the analysis of the labor market and innovation options. Educational and employment programs were conducted based on this strategy, for the purpose of the labor market integration of unemployed and disadvantaged people. During the period of the project the local employment pact and the pact office were also established. The project was conducted with the collaboration of the Employment Office of Zala County and the Nagykanizsa Employment Non-profit GmbH. The main goal was to help at least 300 unemployed people in Nagykanizsa, Hungary finding jobs by using the established labor market services.
The TOP project also includes innovations and new methods, which can be used in labor market policy both locally and nationally. It has 10 different target groups (Table 1).
Table 1
Target groups of the project
Target groups: unemployed people, employees of the public sector and inactive people
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Disadvantaged people according to the project:
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1.
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People with low level of highest education (elementary school or below; ISCED 1–2)
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2.
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24 year-old or younger people or 29 year-old or younger unemployed people
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3.
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50 + year-old people
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4.
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Women returning to the labor market after giving birth
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5.
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People receiving unemployment benefits
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6.
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People at risk of permanent unemployment
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7.
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People with disabilities
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8.
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Members of the Romani minority
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9.
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People who are capable to be led from public employment to the labor market
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10.
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Inactive people
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The TOP project includes an individual program. The elements of this program contain job advice, job seeking clubs, organization of job fares and mentorship. Providing services had two different ways. The first option was that the service as an individual element of the project. The second type was when the service was conducted in connection with the participant’s support. During the services, participants had to document the completion. In practice, the document of completion included a written reference by the participant, the mentorship diary, diary of progression and the mentor’s evaluation on the participant’s activity. [14]