Employment Policies in Hungary and in the European Union

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN HUNGARY AND IN THE

EUROPEAN UNION

Borbély-Pecze Tibor Bors, Ph.D. 2013-14-1 Semester 1/3 (topics 1-4)

Main topics Politics and policy, national and European policies: development of

Employment Policy Employment Policy and the relation of other human policies such as

education, social &health policies Who makes policy? Development of the European Labour Market and development of

national and international employment policies Case study: The Hungarian Labour Market Hungarian Labour Market Policy under the European Employment Strategy:

How does OMC model work in practice? Changing role of the Public Employment Services in the changing labour

market (views of the ILO, OECD and EC: PES 2020 strategy) Development of the European Employment Strategy and previous

development at the European policy field –Commission White Paper on Employment….(1993)

New concepts of the international organisations and the European Union on labour market policy: flexicurity, employability, adaptability, partnership approach, multilevel governance, etc.

Role of the structural funds at delivering European and national employment policy goals

Three key issues for the essays

Topic 1. Development of the European Employment Policy as a policy, milestones between 1993-2013

Topic 2. Designing & developing policy loops in the field of employment policy: concrete case study with a chosen ALMP

Topic 3. Europe 2020 – European Semester: Country-specific recommendations and applications in national employment policies

1/3

Developing policies, development of the European Employment Policy

Politics & Policy There is a strong distinction in English and it is not

the case in German (Politik), French (politique) or Hungarian (politika)

E.g. in Hungarian we are creating artificial words: „pártpolitika”, „szakpolitika”

Politics (from Greek: politikos, meaning "of, for, or relating to citizens") is the practice and theory of influencing other people on a civic or individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state.

A policy is a principle or protocol to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes (Wikipedia)

What is policy? „Policy is a concept which dominates our

understanding of the ways we are governed.” … party leaders facing an impending election

must have a clearly stated policy on all matters of significance.” e.g. education policy, employment policy industry policy etc.

It operates prospectively rather than retrospectively …

Policy; Coherent Hierarchy Instrumentality – has „policy objectives (2000:3-4) (These attributes also create the way how we can evaluate policies.)

(Colebatch 2000)

Further attributes of policy Authority : authorized decision-makers Expertise: policy requires knowledge both

of the problem area & of the things that might be done about it.

Order: policy implies systems and consistency, needs a structure

„…policy is made among people who know and trust one other” (2000:25) Community Linkage, networks

Where is it made?

Colebatch (2000:38) Policy

Three separate branches of government

Executive Legislature Judiciary

HungaryThe four independent branches of power in Hungary (the parliament, the

government, the court system, and the office of the public accuser) are divided into six bodies:

Parliament (Magyar Országgyűlés): elected every 4 years by the people in a highly complex, two-round voting system

Government (Magyar Kormány): installed and removed by 50%+1 basic majority vote of the parliament, 4-year terms

Supreme Court (Legfelsőbb Bíróság): Chief justice elected by qualified (2/3) majority of the parliament, no government oversight

Constitutional court (Alkotmánybíróság): members elected by qualified majority of the parliament for 8 years, this body nullifies laws and has no government oversight.

Chief public accuser (Legfőbb ügyész): elected by qualified majority of the parliament, 6-year terms, office budget fixed, no government oversight.

The President of the Republic (Köztársasági Elnök) is elected by qualified majority of the Hungarian parliament for 5-year terms (cannot be reelected more than once). He/she has ceremonial powers only, signs laws into power and commands the military in time of peace.Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers

What happens to policy? Policy decision Implementation Evaluation

Policy decision

Implementation

Evaluation

Policy making is even more complex at supranational levels

Policy formulation & delivery at supernational levels

http://www.regional.org.au/au/soc/2002/4/hine.htm

Labour markets: all about the supply & demand sides

Labour market inbalances Role of the governments (1947-1973) (

market failures) Keynesim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes Welfare states

Role of the markets (1973-2008) (government failures) Neoliberalism, (origins: 1930s, reintroduce

1980s) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism

Neoconservatives (NeoCon) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism Workfare states

FUTURE: 2020s; 2030s …. (failure of both?) Emerging role of the national governments?

OR/AND Global Agenda (e.g. G20; UN-ILO) Regional developments EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, UMA,

EU-USA (?) Sub-regions; Europe: e.g. V4 (HU, SK, PL, CZ);

Scandinavia (FI, SE, DK, NO,IS) , Baltic states (EE, LT, TV) etc.

Employment policy at global level

International Labour Organisation: ILO (1919, UN: 1946)

http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm ILO: „LFS”(Labour Force Survey): key for

international comparison http://www.ilo.org/dyn/lfsurvey/lfsurvey.home

A Labour Force Survey is a standard household-based survey of work-related statistics.

http://laborsta.ilo.org

At the global stage (ILO C122) EMPLOYMENT POLICY

to promote full employment with a view to stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underemployment.

This policy shall aim at ensuring that there is work for all who are available for and seeking it; that such work is productive as possible and that there is freedom of employment. Each worker shall have the fullest possible opportunity to qualify for and use his or her skills and endowments in a job for which the worker is well suited, without discrimination.

Employment policy shall take due account of the stage and level of economic development and the mutual relationships between employment objectives and other economic and social objectives, and shall be pursued by methods that are appropriate to national conditions and practices.

Finally, the Convention provides for consultation of representatives of persons affected by the measures to be taken, and in particular, representatives of employers and workers.

EU: The policies Overview of EU activities in all areas,

from agriculture to transport. Click on the links below for more information on the key issues for the EU in each area.

http://ec.europa.eu/policies/ Employment and social rights http://ec.europa.eu/policies/employment_socia

l_rights_en.htm

The rise of the European Employment Strategy (EES)

Maastricht Treaty (1992) paved the way for new policy-making, the OMC (Open Method of Coordination) model emerged

Amsterdam Amendments (1997) start of the EES Article 128: first time MS developed National Action

Planes (NAPs) the Luxembourg Jobs Summit (November

1997) launched the implementation of the new, open method of co-ordination embedded in Article 128 TEC and endorsed the first set of Employment Guidelines.

EES: policy loop at supranational level until 2010

Thank you for your attention!