Active Labour Market Policies of Selected European Countries and Their Competitiveness

Anotace: Creating balance conditions in the labour market is a result of the state efforts in the form of implementation of ALMP to incorporate job-seekers. The structural reforms of ALMP are complementary greater than some of the effects of each of them taken individually. The structure, efficiency and competitiveness of costs expended on ALMPs in selected EU countries show the strengths and weaknesses of the labour market as well as its ability to stabilise after adverse macroeconomic development. At the same time, the labour demand strengthens the level of competitiveness on product markets. The main objective of the contribution is to analyse the expenditures on ALMPs in the context of changes in unemployment and to evaluate their competitiveness in selected European countries in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015. The partial aim is to capture and evaluate Slovakia’s position in the context of used ALMPs measures, to evaluate the effects of the most important and competitive ALMPs measures of Slovakia at the macroeconomic level and to deal with the monitoring of the measures in terms of their applicability in practice. To achieve the objective, there are descriptive statistical methods, comparative analysis, and cluster analyses used. The results show that the effectiveness of expenditure on ALMP affects the development of unemployment in selected EU countries differently.