Integration social enterprises as a tool of employment policy

Abstract

Employment policy as part of the social policy of the state has two basic objectives-achieving full employment and protection against unemployment. There are many groups of people who are highly vulnerable to unemployment on the labour market. For these people, the existence of so-called integration social enterprises, which can offer them a job opportunity, can be particularly useful. If integration social enterprises are supported by the state, we can talk about an active employment policy. Objective of this research is to determine representation of integration social enterprises in a selected region of the Czech Republic and to assess their potential in the context of state employment policy. Although legislative conditions for social enterprises have not yet been developed in the Czech Republic, the research shows that social enterprises have the potential to become a useful tool of active employment policy. It was found that the target group of analysed social enterprises are mainly people with disabilities, who may have a problem with Þnding a job under current circumstances in the labour market of the Czech Republic. Without the contribution of analysed social enterprises, the excess of supply over demand for labour of people with disabilities would increase an additional 7.37 percent.