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15. Неизвестный В.А. Дебиторская задолженность. Грамотный контроль, планирование и управление [Текст] / В.А. Неизвестный // Финансовая газета. - 2012. - № 38. - С. 7-8.
16. Пименов К. Дебиторская задолженность предприятия [Текст] / К. Пименов. - М.: Лаборатория книги, 2010. - 164 с.
17. Поддубный К.А. Организация и методика экономического анализа дебиторской задолженности [Текст]: дисс. ... кандидата экономических наук: 08.00.12 / К.А. Поддубный; [Место защиты: Воронеж. гос. ун-т]. - Воронеж, 2010. - 166 с.
18. Семенихин В.В. Дебиторская задолженность в бухгалтерском учете [Текст] / В.В. Семенихин // Все для бухгалтера. - 2012. - № 3. - С. 41-46.
19. Смолякова Н.О. Управление дебиторской задолженностью: учет и контроль [Электронный ресурс] / Н.О. Смолякова // Проблемы современной экономики. - 2013. - №1. - Режим доступа: http://cyberkninka.m/artide/n/upravk-nie-debitorskoy-zadolzhennostyu-uchet-i-kontrol (дата обращения: 12.05.2014).
20. Сутягин В.Ю. Разработка и внедрение механизма управления дебиторской задолженностью на предприятии [Электронный ресурс] / В.Ю. Сутягин // Социально-экономические явления и процессы. - 2013. - № 10. -Режим доступа: http://cyberleninka.ru/artide/n/razrabotka-i-vnedrenie-mehaniz-ma-upravleniya-debitorskoy-zadolzhenno-styu-na-predpriyatii (дата обращения: 12.05.2014).
ASSESSING IMPACTS OF ACTIVE SOCIAL PROGRAMS ON THE LABOR MARKET IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
© Terziev Venelin*, Dimitrova Sevdalina, Arabska Ekaterina
Vasil Levski National Military University, Bulgaria, Veliko Tarnovo University of Аgribusiness and Rural Development, Bulgaria, Plovdiv
Unfavorable negative demographic trends in the country leading to processes of decreasing and aging of labor resources, sustainably unbalanced character of labor market, characterized by high unemployment and low labor demand, the availability of vulnerable groups and significant regional discrepancies in labor market development are among the most serious challenges before the country in the XXI century. Among the macroeconomic policies and means a significant place is rendered to the so-called active programs and measures on the labor market which are an object of increasing attention not only because the expectations of tangible effects but also
* Professor, D.Sc, Ph.D, Dipl. Eng., Department of Business Administration and logistics Vasil Levski National Military University.
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because comparatively significant financial resources necessary for their implementation. Furthermore, the problem of effective spending of resources gains bigger sharpness in the current situation of limited social expenses in the country and poses questions to the effectiveness of the implementation of different programs and control.
Current study examines information about active programs for labor employment, makes analyses of existing good practices and determines main preferences of unemployed persons in capable of working age taking monthly social support towards transformation of social support into incomes from labor, as well as the attitude of the maininstitutional departments conducting the state social policy in the field of employment and unemployment and the attitude of the non-governmental organizations towards the program and their readiness for distributing the functions between state, municipalities and non-governmental organizations in implementation and financing of the program, probable problems and conflict points.
Key words: labor market, active social programs, impacts’ assessments.
Introduction
The active programs are a means of raising the competitiveness of labor force, mobilization of labor resources and increase in economic activity of population [8]. The active policy also implements a very important socially distributing function, especially in conditions of availability of vulnerable groups on the labor market [19]. For the last the participation into active programs is the only one chance of employment, avoidance of entering endmost poverty and social deprivation (isolation) [16]. Not the least, from the right determination of goals and expected results in active programs and measures and their appropriate announcement in the public space are dependent the extent, trust and support of implemented social and economic reforms [13].
Introduced as a response to significantly increasing unemployment, active social policies incessantly expand the variety of programs and measures including the following main elements:
- intermediary services on the labor market;
- opening new places of work (programs of temporary employment);
- qualification / re-qualification of unemployed and employed persons;
- entrepreneurship encouragement;
- subsidized employment.
The active programs could be scrutinized, in the most general plan, as an instrument of support to the effective functioning of the labor market. They contribute to the elimination of barriers and problems in the functioning of market economy [12]. The active programs have a multidirection impact on the labor market. Emerged as a means of unemployment limitation, nowadays expected impacts of their application are too broad [9]. Despite the availability of a number of modifications and concrete varieties for the implementation of the mentioned directions of active policies, the qualification is an important issue of considera-
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tion for all the countries, including conducted in the Republic of Bulgaria active policy on the labor market [7].
The building up of a capacity for executing regularly monitoring activities and assessment of the effectiveness of conducted active policies is one of the priority tasks in the strategies on the European level too. In the practical assessments of the active programs and measures, the problems most often arising are substantiated by their multigoal and multiaspect nature and they are connected to the lack of a common and consolidated methodology for assessment, as well as to mistakesin measurements and the absence of adequate statistical information, resulting in the objective impossibility to trace the persons and state “benefits” of participation in such programs.
The starting point in the assessment of active programs and measures are the activities of clarification of goals, tasks and expected results for a concrete program [15]. Studies of different active programs in the field of labor market worldwide show ambiguity and often contradictory results regarding their effectiveness [20]. Results are highly influenced by the examined country’s peculiarities, period and way of implementation of programs. The outlined great variety of active programs gives an evidence that during the assessments of their effectiveness all probable aspects of the effectiveness should be measured, all the impacts should be considered and compared - increase in the chances of employment, increase in the level of payment, social impact, etc. Furthermore, it is important an analysis of benefits and expenditures to be made which would give an opportunity to provide a clear answer to the question to what extent spent financial resources are economically and socially justifiable.
Into the world practice four types of active measures’ assessments are mainly applied [1]:
1. Permanent (current) monitoring and control of programs;
2. Assessment of the net impact of the programs;
3. Benefit-expenditure analyses;
4. Assessment of institutional and organizational capacity of programs.
Full investigation means realization of the four above-mentioned assessments. In practice, this is very expensive and that’s why most often the assessments of the net impact are applied. Most of the governments implement permanent monitoring and control over the implementation of programs. Very little, even into the world practice, are the comparative analyses of benefits and expenditures, although namely such a kind of assessment proves the economic effectiveness of spent financial resources under employment programs [20].
The effectiveness of every one program is generally measured by the implementation of its goals. A program has efficiency when in its implementation a significant part of the target group is covered. On the next place, the direct impact of the active policies on employment and level of incomes is of great interest. For the evaluations of the net impact on employment it is necessary to find out what
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is the percentage of the program participants succeeded to find job following finishing their participation and how many would not succeed if they weren’t included into the program [9]. The net impact on the payment is measured as a relative share of program participants which after the end report higher incomes than before participation in the program. That way, the increase in incomes is explained by the participation into the program.
For the final measurement of the effectiveness it is necessary to compare the net impacts on employment and level of incomes with direct and indirect expenses made during the program implementation. It is also possible to assess nonmonetary effects, often called just social. In order an active program to be of full effectiveness, on the macro level it is necessary the side effects to be subtracted by the net impact thus finding the real net effect or the real significance of the program as a means of decrease in unemployment and increase in new-opened places of work. The side effects could be:
- Dead weight effect: the results got by the participation into the program would arise without it as well. For example, when an unemployed person is employed under a program of subsidized employment, but the same person would get the same job without the program, the effect of dead weight loss would be noticed.
- Effect of substitution: that effect emerges in the cases when an unemployed person is employed in a program of subsidized employment and gets a job which would be given to another person non-participating in the program, the net effect is null.
- Effect of shift: this side effect is noticed in regard to the production process when an organization using subsidized employment replaces on the market other organizations which do not use preferences under the program of subsidized employment.
The importance of juxtaposing of expenditures to realized incomes and benefits from every one program could be illustrated by the following example. If a program of qualification and re-qualification of unemployed persons and the intermediary services give one and the same quantitative contribution (net effect) to increase of employment, but the resources spent in qualification and re-qualification are twice higher than those of intermediary services, the first program would be twice less economically effective than the second one.
Discussing the situation on the labor market in the country in connection to the overall economic conditions, the following trends should be mentioned in recent decades of transition to market economy and processes and attempts of establishment a new social system: stagnant labor demand, qualitative disbalance between labor demand and supply, high and lasting unemployment and significant levels of poverty, problems in labor integration of unemployed persons from the risky (vulnerable) groups because of their low competitiveness on the labor market and low flexibility in the changing economic environment [16]. The con-
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centration of unemployed persons from certain risky groups in certain regions and settlements creates additional prerequisites for the high level of unemployment and as a consequence - emerging social tension.
Assessments of the impacts from the implementation of active measures on the labor market in the country, and particularly National action plan on employment, show that there are many weaknesses in both planning and implementation [4]. The achievements in the last decade are accompanied by a number of problems in procedures, planning, lack of communication, etc. [3].
The results show more pessimistic and negative than optimistic and positive attitudes and expectations. They support the conclusions that economic growth for now is not transformed into some concrete improvements in everyday life and in the material status of the people which is the case in its greatest depth for the poorest people in the community [8].
The analyses of previously existing and implemented programs of temporary employment show the relatively low effectiveness which is easily to be proved by the kept level of unemployment during and after the end of the programs. Such programs are characterized by the following more important peculiarities [7]:
- employment is provided only for a certain period of time and after that the hired unemployed persons are again without jobs and register in labor offices;
- comparatively identical selection of activities is offered, usually unattractive and non-qualified connected to cleaning, planting, afforestation, communal infrastructure, etc. which do not contribute to acquisition of new and specific professional skills;
- acquisition of professional qualification is not offered nor through practicing qualified activities, neither through participation in courses of professional qualification;
- negative attitude of participating employers who isolate the most risky groups in the selection processes.
Along with negative social consequences (some of which will be commented later) the practice of “social support” instead of “labor employment” creates also economic problems as far as it leads to irrational, economically ineffective and non-perspective re-distributions of incomes from working to unemployed and socially vulnerable who could work and realized economic benefits not only for themselves but also for the state in different forms.
In conjunction with the rest of the changes in economic system and social structure of the country, the transition processes lead to significant impoverishment of a big part of the population. A common conviction is that the unemployed persons from different risky groups are among the most influenced and one of the main reasons for that is the labor isolation and subsequent social marginalization [9]. The motivation to get out of the poverty has many dimensions, incl. how the citizens see the trends in economic development, how they estimate their own position on the background of the overall development of the country
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and in comparison to the way of life of the rest. The way out of the poverty is not a problem of the society only but also a question of personal position and wish for a change. The search of some contact points between what the society wants to achieve through the National program “From social support to employment” and to what extent socially supported poor want to change their economic status and are ready for the corresponding efforts is a matter of investigation of the success of the program. Namely socially supported unemployed persons’ way of assessments of their own situations, their vision for perspectives in economic development and about their personal perspectives are the initial point in determination their readiness to participate in the program.
In making assessments of the studied program there are four major moments:
First, the program offers full employment per day and weak;
Second, the program offers employment in certain activities;
Third, the program offers employment in conditions of fixed payments;
Fourth, the program envisages sanctions for those who have refused participation.
Material and methods
Three categories of persons are investigated in the study:
- Unemployed persons from the risky groups in capable of working age receiving monthly social support.
- Representatives of municipal administrations, directorates of labor offices and directorates of social assistance.
- Representatives of non-governmental organizations working on the problems of the risky groups and developing programs for employment.
Four studies are made in the framework of four month:
1. National investigation among the unemployed persons from the risky groups receiving monthly social support.
2. National investigation (quantitative - through a direct individual questionnaire) among the representatives of municipal administrations, directorates of labor offices, directorates of social assistance and non-governmental organizations.
3. National investigation (qualitative - through individual semi-standardized interview) among the representatives of municipal administrations, directorates of labor offices, directorates of social assistance and nongovernmental organizations.
4. Depth interviews with the representatives of local authority responsible for the implementation of the National program “From social support to employment”.
Results
The attitude towards the existing system of social support is determined by the assessment of the size of the received social support. Other problematic fields
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are periodicity of their payments, the size and their distribution among the needy. About 76 % of the interviewed unemployed are not satisfied with the small sizes of social support payments, about 40 % state that the delays in payments are often. About 20 % share that they do not usually receive the whole amount. Approximately 30 % believe that the selection of the persons receiving social support is subject of injustice and irregularities. The notions about social support are different too (Table 1) and although out of the scope and goals of current investigation they provide important implications to the need of motivation.
Table 1
Answers to the question „According to your opinion which of the persons in capable of working age and good health condition could receive social
support?” (in %)
Answers Total for the country Among the unemployed receiving social support Among the unemployed persons
Persons who can’t find a job 58,4 70,9 66,2
Persons in capable of working age and good health should not receive social support 20,5 8,1 11,1
Persons who can’t find a job corresponding to their qualification 9,4 2,0 7,5
Persons who can’t find a well-paid job 3,8 6,1 5,0
I can’t assess 7,9 12,8 10,2
Independently of critical notes and disagreements all declare a high degree of satisfaction with the program in principle (between 80 and 90 %).
Table 2
Answers to the question „Do you in general approve the National program “From social support to employment” (in %)
Answers Representatives of municipal structures Representatives of non-governmental organizations
Yes 89,8 80,6
No 10,2 19,4
Some of its positive features are: it creates employment, although temporary but longer than previous programs’, it turns back the unemployed in the system of organized labor creating conditions for restoration of labor discipline (Table 3).
Table 3
Answers to the question “Which are the best aspects of the program?” (in %) (more than one answer is given)
Answers Representatives of municipal structures Representatives of non-governmental organizations
There are not good aspects 4,7 14,3
It creates employment 65,4 45,2
It habituates to work 23,9 25,8
It provides qualification 4,4 0,0
It realizes useful activities for municipalities 3,1 0,0
It raises the incomes 1,3 0,0
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The weakness are much more (Table 4):
- The program creates only temporary employment and in fact it does not change the qualification level of the hired;
- The practical realization is reduced to very similar and low-qualified activities;
- The program has started without good organization, preparation and in a hurry;
- There are some gaps in the financing impeding realization and imposing low payments;
- The selection of participants is based on completely formal criteria;
- The provision of information for different parties is low;
- There is no good connection with the partners.
Table 4
Answers to the question „Which are the biggest weaknesses of the program?” (in %) (more than one answer is given)
Answers Representatives of municipal structures Representatives of non-governmental organizations
There are not weaknesses 34,4 30,0
It provides temporary employment only 13,8 12,9
The activities are not consistent with the qualification 6,9 9,7
Weak organization 6,3 0,0
Insufficient financing 6,3 3,2
The unemployed are not engaged in the program 5,0 12,9
Bad selection of participants 3,8 16,1
Weak organization of labor 3,1 0,0
It does not create a useful product 1,9 0,0
Employers are not engaged with the program 1,9 0,0
Low payment 1,9 3,2
It does not create qualification 1,9 0,0
Social workers are convinced that only the joint efforts of different institutions could lead to success in program implementation. The half think that those institutions should be on local level, other 29 % - at the state one (Table 5).
Table 5
Answers to the question “Who should organize the program?”
Answers %
State 3,0
Municipalities 5,3
National agency of employment and its territorial departments 9,3
State, employment agency and municipalities 1,7
Social assistance agency and its territorial departments 29,0
Municipalities, employment agency, social assistance agency and their territorial departments 50,3
Other organizations 1,1
I can’t assess 0,3
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All those problems, although essential, are assessed as less significant than the positive aspects of the program and as being a subject of possible corrections.
The bigger part of the unemployed approve the program too (Table 6). However the approval is about the common concept rather than about concrete mechanisms and it is in very broad borders. Almost all agree on the idea of offering a job to the unemployed but about 85 % approve the offered activities, less than 80 % - the size of payment, only the half accept the idea of sanctions for those who refused to participate. But even in both most critical points - types of activities and payments, the approval is significantly higher than the disapproval. In order to be really effective, the program should overcome the impression that the approval is under the pressure of the circumstances and to be closer to the needs and expectations of the unemployed persons.
Table 6
Approval of the different aspects of the program (in %)
Answers Agree Disagree Can’t assess
To offer a job for the unemployed persons 97,1 0,5 2,3
The activities to be in repair of streets, buildings, gardens, cleaning, drainage and water-supply system, care of adults and children 85,2 8,7 6,2
The activities to be implemented in the quarters where the unemployment live 87,9 6,3 5,8
The activities to be paid (even at the minimum) as well as social and health insurance 80,3 14,8 4,9
If the unemployed refuse participation, social support to be ceased 50,2 37,5 12,3
It is sure that the types of activities should be extended and include qualified labor. This could be realized naturally by applications with some projects. On the other hand, the differentiation in payments is the topical question, as well as bigger payments although the last could not be the case in the situation of state financing of activities.
About 2/3 of the unemployed would accept to participate in the program but V4 would participate if they are convinced that the sanction will be a fact. Every tenth declares that he/she would refuse even if the social support is stopped in that case (Table 7).
The expressed readiness for participation from the unemployed is in correspondence to the observations and assessments of the representatives of nongovernmental organizations (Table 8) while the representatives of municipal structures think that the participation in the program is much more influenced by the sanctions than individual wish. It is obvious that they have no a real idea about the attitudes and motivation of the unemployed and sometimes exchange information with prejudices and hence the readiness to use the mechanisms of administrative constrains although there are some better approaches as provision of information, individual work, etc. The bigger part of the social workers think that not small part of socially supported are ready to participate in the program.
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Table 7
Answers to the question „What would you do if you were offered to work on the program activities at minimum payment and in case you refused the social support would be stopped?” (in %)
Answers I will accept I will accept if the social support is stopped I will not accept
All 67,0 23,5 9,5
Gender
Man 68,6 23,0 8,4
Woman 65,5 24,0 10,5
Age
Up to 29 62,5 24,4 13,1
30-39 71,7 20,3 8,0
40-49 62,3 29,1 8,6
Over 50 76,0 19,9 4,1
Education
Secondary 60,8 21,1 18,2
Primary 70,6 24,6 4,8
Elementary or without education 65,3 24,3 10,4
Type of settlement
Sofia (the capital city) 36,1 34,4 29,5
District town 58,0 27,3 14,7
Other town 75,3 18,3 6,4
Village 71,0 23,6 5,4
How do you think you will live if you participate in the program?
Better 84,4 13,1 2,5
Worse 16,0 49,7 34,3
The same 37,4 42,5 20,1
Table 8
Answers to the question „According to your opinion is there readiness among the persons receiving monthly social support to participate in the program?” (in % of social workers)
Answers %
Yes 53,0
No 38,5
I can’t assess 8,5
The biggest percentage is of those who would refuse participation in the program. Almost every third person do not reconcile to low-qualified jobs (Table 9). A little bit more than lA would not accept lower payment, 12 % do not want to have a difficult job. Relying on themselves are about 17 % which refuse participation but it is hard to say that this is the real individual activity on the labor market.
As a whole the community opinion approves the restrictive norms in the program - 2/3 think that social support should be stopped in case of refusal of participation (Table 10).
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Table 9
Answers to the question „What will be the reason to refuse participation in the program?”
Answers %
If the job does not correspond to my qualification 31,6
If the payment is very low 26,4
I would not want to work some difficult and non-prestigious job 11,9
I will try to find a job which is better paid 16,9
If I can found patients’ charts 0,3
Other reasons 13,3
Table 10
Answers to the question „Do you approve ceasing of social support in case of refusal of participation in the program?”
Answers %
I strongly approve 44,1
I’d rather approve 21,6
I’d rather disapprove 10,0
I strongly disapprove 7,9
I can’t assess 16,4
The community opinion is that the effect of the program would not be for a long period of time and the influence on the target groups will last during its duration (Table 11). Social workers are even more sceptic about the long term effect of the program - almost eight times more answers for „Only in the time of its duration” in comparison to “For a longer period of time”. As a whole the conclusion is that the interested parties and the public opinion are not convinced in the ability of the program to create a sustainable effect.
Table 11
Answers to the question „Do you think that the program would have positive impacts on the unemployed receiving social support?” (in %)
Answers For the country Among social workers Among the unemployed persons receiving social support
Yes, for a longer period of time 21,0 10,0 24,1
Yes, but only in the time of its duration 42,5 77,0 37,5
No 15,0 11,7 8,9
I can’t access 21,0 1,3 29,5
From qualitative investigations it become clear that a part of the unemployed persons receiving social support are „subscribed” for the programs of temporary employment. The social workers also point that they prefer to advise and orientate persons who they know as responsible. That fact however is in contrast to the goals of the program to integrate and motivate the poorest marginalized persons and families. Such a problem is not the case in some municipalities where the quota and the projects exceed the number of persons answering the criteria of inclusion in the program.
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Table 12
Answers to the question „What are your observations whether the unemployed want to participate in the program?” (in %)
Answers Representatives of municipal structures Representatives of nongovernmental organizations
Yes, voluntarily 39,9 67,7
Under compulsion because the stop of the social support 48,1 22,6
They don’t want 4,4 3,2
I can’t assess 7,6 6,5
Another problem is that some tension is created among the long-term unemployed and the poor receiving social support and answering the criteria and not receiving social support and not participating in the program.
In confirmation of the expected participation and the significance of different motives as a positive assessment and the fear of sanctions are the reactions of the participants. Their group is disordered (Table 13). The half is satisfied with both the job and the payment and there is positive motivation. Other 25 % express dissatisfaction with the job or the payment - the motivation is mixed. There are 25 % dissatisfied with both and their motivation is negative, i.e. their participation is influenced by the sanctions.
Table 13
Satisfaction of the program participants
Answers %
Satisfied with the job and the payment 49,5
Satisfied with the job only 19,5
Satisfied with the payment only 6,1
Dissatisfied with the job and the payment 24,9
The assessment of the unemployed persons for the impact of the program on the life standard coincides with the readiness of participation (Table 14). 2/3 expect some positive effect. About 30 % think that it will not change anyhow their material status, about 5 % expect worsening.
The investigation gives an evidence for a strong dependence between the readiness of participation and the expectations of the effects on the life standard. The conviction that the participation into the program would bring more incomes to the household motivates the unemployed for participation. About 85 % of the convinced that they would live better are ready to participate, while for those who do not expect any change this percentage is 37 %, for those anticipating change for the worse the percentage is 16 %. 82 % of those wishing to participate envisage improvement in their material status. Participating under the pressure of the threat of stopping social support are 36 %, strongly rejecting the opportunity are 18 % only. In other words, the attitude towards the program, and hence the readiness of engagement and real participation, depend first of all on the conviction of
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the unemployed that the participation would positively influence standard and way of life of the household.
Table 14
Answers to the question „According to your opinion how will you live if you take participation in the program?” (in %)
Answers Better Worse The same way
All 65,4 5,1 29,5
Age
Up to 29 61,2 3,9 34,9
30-39 63,0 6,8 30,2
40-49 65,7 3,7 30,6
Over 50 83,7 6,7 9,6
Type of settlement
Sofia (the capital city) 17,6 19,1 63,3
District town 62,0 6,1 31,9
Other town 77,4 5,5 17,1
Village 66,4 1,8 31,9
Readiness to participate in the program
Will accept 82,4 1,2 16,3
Only if the social support is stopped 36,3 10,8 52,8
Will not accept 17,9 18,9 63,2
One of the ways to support that conviction is the direct one as already mentioned - raise in payments, differentiation in payment, stimulation of projects with higher payments and longer employment, combination of labor incomes and social support, in that way that the participation in the program to lead to a real raise in incomes for the households / families rather than being on the level of the social support. Another way is connected to those elements of the program which foresee acquisition or improvement of professional qualification expanding the circle of professions and enrichment of physical activities with dexterity and skills, as well as bigger opportunities for permanent employment.
Discussion
The common assessment of the representatives of different municipal structures and non-governmental organizations for hitherto existing practices of temporary employment is that the implemented programs have low effectiveness (and as already stated above do not create in hired persons professional or personal perspectives). That assessment is the case for both the programs of temporary employment organized and financed by the state and for the programs organized by non-governmental organizations and other organizations.
Only the half of the participants in the temporary employment programs are fully satisfied with them, the rest of the participants are in part or fully unsatisfied with the job, the payment or both. The investigation reports the same dependency for the unemployed persons which have started their participation into the Na-
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tional program “From social support to employment”. The reason for that is in the common model of implementation of such programs, executed approximately the same in their character activities, as well as the size of the received remuneration.
From the contents of the offered activities under the Bulgarian national program “From social support to employment” both positive and negative consequences emerge at the same time concerning the common attitude and the readiness of the unemployed for participation into the program. Positive impacts are identified by the regularity of offered activities and their similarities with those exercised by long-term unemployed in the most often cases. Besides that, those activities lie into the model of previous programs of temporary employment and are not a challenge for unemployed some of which already have experience in direct participations. In that sense, they give an opportunity of every one unemployed, even the one having the lowest qualification, to become a direct participant in the program.
Those characteristics however are also the cause of the critical opinions about the program. The activities are mainly non-qualified or low-qualified, their contents do not imply the acquisition of some qualification during work, the binding of the risky group to that kinds of labor is continued, the available education and qualification potential is not properly used, etc. In most often cases those critics come from the representatives of the non-governmental organizations but to that weak part of the program the representatives of municipal institutions pay attention too. The transition to the practice the employment to be provided by different employers through some specific projects of employment would diversify offered activities and in some extent would lead to some solutions of that problem. One of the necessary conditions for inclusion of potential employers in the program through certain projects is covering certain expenses which are not covered by the state budget.
The analyses connected to the development of the National program “From social support to employment” show that the opinion of the representatives of municipal structures and non-governmental organizations about the practices of temporary employment is that the implemented programs are of low effectiveness and do not create professional and personal perspectives. Among all 273 interviewed representatives of municipal strictures and non-governmental organizations only a few point successful practices in solving the problem of unemployment of the risky groups which could be used as a model of action. The final effectiveness however of the pointed examples is doubtful because of the higher level of unemployment in some settlements and regions of the country in comparison to others.
Almost without exception the representatives of non-governmental organizations point the lack of education and qualification as the main reason for the high unemployment of the risky groups. At the same way, they underline that the improvement in education and qualification level is on the first place of activities for
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solution the problems with the unemployment. Along with that the majority state some existing discriminatory attitudes. In this relation the assessments of the representatives of municipal structures and non-governmental organizations are similar and different. Both accept the importance of low qualification and lack of education but for non-governmental organizations the discrimination is a main factor too. The opinion about some discriminatory approaches is supported by the long-term unemployed group too, especially younger, not well-educated and citizens of big towns.
The investigation’s results and the existing practice very clearly show the place and the role of non-governmental organizations. While state institutions have the responsibilities of developing principles and strategies, as well as financing, local authorities and different municipal structures implement the strategies on local level, inform employers and encourage project development, develop projects, select participants, search for the contact points between local problems, labor potential of the unemployed and the needs of employers, the non-governmental organizations have the role of an intermediary between the risky groups and the institutions in which function of their own they strongly believe. The majority of them have a positive attitude to the program, their critical notes are of good will, they understand the problems very well and are ready to collaborate in such social projects.
Conclusion
The effectiveness of the discussed programs is doubtful considering the level of unemployment during and after the corresponding program’s end which is kept. The organized and implemented temporary employment programs till now are characterized by the following more important peculiarities:
- employment is provided only for a certain period of time and after that the hired unemployed persons remain again without a job and register in the labor offices;
- relatively identical composition of unattractive and non-qualified activities is offered which are connected to cleaning, planting and afforestation, communal infrastructure, etc. Those do not contribute to the acquisition of new and specific professional skills;
- professional qualification acquisition is not offered by practicing qualified activities neither by participation in vocational training courses giving professional qualification;
- negative attitude of the participating employers who isolate some risky groups during the selection among the unemployed persons.
The same characteristics are relatively repeated regarding the National program “From social support to employment”.
The general conclusions regarding motivation considerations that could be made from the above discussion are the following:
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- The target groups have readiness and wish to participate in the National program “From social support to employment”. Among them the readiness to work in such programs are bigger than the average for the country. In difference to the public as a whole and the beneficiaries, social workers are not so optimistic about the preferences of the unemployed persons receiving social support which they meet. The impressions are that they’d rather prefer social support than work for the minimum salary.
- From the qualitative investigations it is shown that in some municipalities (mostly in villages and small towns) people are easily included in the program, while in bigger towns there is hidden employment and more opportunities for illegal incomes which leads to refusals of participation.
- The common opinion is that the payments under the programs are insufficient. Furthermore, sometimes people were misinformed and were not expecting the insurance expenses covered by the net amount.
- As a whole the public opinion approves the restrictive norms.
- The opinion that the effect of the program would not be long-term and the impact on the target group will be only for the time of its duration is predominant.
- The investigations should also consider the expenditures made on the active policy on different levels being assessed. On the level of the national employment agency the expenditures are of two kinds: direct (for example payments of minimum salary and related insurances for every one person included in an active program) and indirect (administrative expenses on the implementation of the active program). On the next level, government and society, the expenditures are identical. That’s why the analyses of benefits-expenditures are possible only in the availability of evaluations of administrative indirect expenditures for separate active programs and measures.
The economic effect of the active policy could be sought in several directions. On the individual level, for an unemployed person the economic effect would comprise of increased level of incomes as a result of finding job after participation in an active policy. On the level of the National employment agency, the economic effect could be measured by the saved resources from compensations for unemployment in cases of ceasing payments because the unemployed person has found a job. For the government the incomes are as saved money of compensations for unemployment and increased incomes in the state budget (National insurance institute) which the unemployed person and the employer have to pay from the moment of starting the job. For society as a whole, the economic effect is in the increased level of incomes and quality of life.
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ОСОБЕННОСТИ ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЯ ВАЛЮТНОГО РЫНКА РФ
© Хортиев Д.Р., Цогоева М.И.
Северо-Осетинский государственный университет им. К.Л. Хетагурова,
г. Владикавказ
Актуальность темы заключается в том, что валютный рынок РФ занимает особенное место в процессе реформ российской экономики, которые направлены на ее вступление в глобальную систему международных связей. В статье дано определение основных понятий валютного рынка, так же описаны его особенности, обозначены тенденции функционирования валютного рынка РФ и намечены перспективы его развития в современных условиях изменений внешнеэкономических отношений России с другими странами.
Ключевые слова валютный рынок, валютные курсы, международная торговля.
В процессе реформирования в России создана и действует высокотехнологичная инфраструктура валютного рынка, которая позволяет проводить операции по конверсии валют в России. Валютный рынок России является составной частью экономики страны, который связан с международными рынками услуг, товаров и капиталов, выступающий инструментом макроэкономического регулирования.
В условиях либерализации международной деятельности и введения текущей конвертируемости рубля, а так же процесс интеграции экономики
