The Impact of Social Policy on the Level of Employment in the Lithuanian Labor Market

Abstract

Goal – the contemporary labor market in European countries is being currently influenced by such factors as an ageing population, shortage of employees, difficulties in recruiting employees with appropriate qualifications and untapped professional potential. In the case of the latter, the situation of people with disabilities, of young women, of people 50+ is discussed most extensively and, much less frequently than the problem of activating the long-term unemployed. This topic seems to be important in the context of decreasing labor resources and the growing deficit of employees. The aim of the article is to determine the impact of the social policy (social security system) on the level of employment in Lithuania in the context of reducing the number of long-term unemployed and their activation. It is assumed that the social benefits that unemployed beneficiaries receive discourage them from returning to the labor market. Research methodology – the used research methods include: analysis of scientific studies, descriptive and comparative methods and the survey research. Score/results – the conducted research has shown that the main causes of long-term unemployment do not result from the decisions of the unemployed, and neither from the demotivating effect of receiving social benefits in the context of active social integration. Thus, the hypothesis was not confirmed. Originality/value – the analysis conducted in the article allows to identify barriers to employment of the long-term unemployed in Lithuania and thus contributes to the scientific discussion on this topic. The results can provide policy makers with recommendations for activation measures for the unemployed social assistance recipients in the context of stabilizing the local labor market situation and of increasing the effectiveness of the social policy.