How Effective is European Public Support Granted to Social Enterprises for Employment in the Czech Republic?

Abstract

The limited size of public budgets raises the need to evaluate public policies more thoroughly. This need also concerns the public funding of social entrepreneurship in Europe and its effectiveness and efficiency when aiming to increase employment among socially excluded people. Based on the propensity score-matching approach, using place of residence, gender, year of birth, and employment status before taking part in the social entrepreneurship program financed by the Operational Program Human Resources and Employment (OP HRE), we compared 307 individuals who received employment support from public budgets and a control group of 1,228 individuals without support. We found a positive effect of the social entrepreneurship program on employment. The supported group has a 19.3% higher chance of being employed 1 year after the support compared to the comparison group. Thus, the OP HRE investment in social enterprise support programs is effective. It is estimated that the public budget will see its investment completely returned in 11 years. From this perspective, the public funding of social enterprises may have positive implications for public sector authorities.