Czech integration jobs program recognizes that a job alone is not enough

For that reason, the Czech Labor Office, in collaboration with the Agency for Social Inclusion, the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry and the Czech Streetwork Association has been spending the last year piloting INTEGRATION JOBS (INTEGRAČNÍ PRACOVNÍ MÍSTA – IPM). In seven regions throughout the Czech Republic, 100 clients, mostly women, have become involved with these new tools of the active employment policy. The IPM combines work with integrational (psychosocial) support. For long-term unemployed job-seekers with multiple disadvantages, the jobs are yielding their first successes: These people are working and improving their overall life situations at the same time.

Meeting at the Academy of Public Investment at the Ministry for Regional Development recently, representatives of the state administration, nonprofit organizations, municipalities and private entities assessed the first year of the IPM’s implementation. The conference, called “Integration Jobs – Giving Somebody Work is Not Enough”, familiarized participants with the experiences and real impacts of the pilot testing of this tool to support people with various social handicaps.

According to Agency for Social Inclusion expert Lucie Trlifajová, pressure to take a job regardless of its quality usually does not lead to improving unemployed people’s situations. People become stuck in a cycle of taking and losing precarious employment, living in chronic stress that leads to reducing their self-confidence and to the impression that their situation cannot be resolved. “This is not just about changing their situation on the labor market, but about providing employment that is integrating and stabilizing in the long term,” said Trlifajová. “What we need to address in the active employment policy are the causes of being in a bad position on the labor market for a long time.”

Anna Brabcová, director of the Department of Labor Market Integration at the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, highlighted that thanks to the intensive support during the pilot project, the handicaps can be eliminated which otherwise stand in the way of such persons applying themselves on the labor market in the long run.

Active involvement of clients and what they acquire

One of the most important moments of the conference was the active participation of the clients themselves who had joined the IPM project. The clients described their experiences, the personal development they underwent during the program, and their stories. Their testimonies were good illustrations of the impact of combining employment with individually-targeted support.

A client named Marie described the story of how she and her husband have been facing long-term unemployment. Thanks to the IPM, she started working for local government and her husband found employment as a crime prevention assistant. After they got married, the couple managed to enter a debt relief program. “That meant a lot to my life,” Marie said. However, she is most glad about her daughter, who is currently in high school: “She was supposed to fail, but they aided me with getting her a chance to be tutored, which was a success.”

Another client named Bohdana comes from a small town which, according to her, doesn’t even have a bus line, and without a personal vehicle it would be impossible for her to commute for work. It was very difficult for her to find a job. She praised her participation in the IPM pilot project: “We learn new things, the mayor pays attention to us, and I am actually making progress.” She appreciates her own personal development the most. “This motivated me, gave me self-confidence, I am considering a requalification course, and mainly, I don’t want to go back to being on unemployment,” she ended her remarks.

Another participant, named Alex, recalled being unable to get a job as a Romani trans woman with health problems. She managed to get a training job and worked for a year as a retail salesperson. After that she joined the IPM test program. Alex describes IPM as giving her an enormous amount of ideas and opportunities. She decided to become a social worker, completed a course on working in social services, and started addressing her debts and other personal problems. Thanks to psychosocial support she has much more faith in herself now.

The community impact of integration jobs

Martin Šimáček, director of the Agency for Social Inclusion, stressed that the IPM is not just about providing work for those who need it. Success depends primarily on the active collaboration between employers, the Labor Office, municipalities and service providers. The coordinated approach assists people not just with finding employment, but also with addressing their other problems such as debt, housing, or medical problems, which is essential to their full integration into society.

“This is the biggest positive change to the active employment policy in the history of the Labor Office of the Czech Republic. It is being asserted thanks to the leadership of the General Directorate of that office, which has taken up this challenge and is actively promoting it, patiently defending it and explaining it. I am glad we can contribute to this, it’s an enormous opportunity,” Šimáček summarized the program.

Martina Zikmundová, director of the Czech Streetwork Association, added that her long-term experience with projects such as the charity store called Restart Shop has shown that connecting employment with intensive support for such clients is absolutely crucial to their success. “Repressive measures or threats do not aid people, concrete support is what gives them a chance to be included in society,” she said.

Future development and expansion of the project

A total of 100 persons participated in the IPM pilot project, 83 % of whom were women, more than 75 % of whom had just completed ninth grade, 91 % of whom were on the unemployment rolls, and 75 % of whom had worked a maximum of just five out of the last 10 years. Long-term, repeatedly unemployed persons were in the group who frequently identify as Romani and who face problems such as being a caretaker for others, being in poor health, or having a low education or low level of practical experience. The project was realized in the seven localities of Bruntál, Děčín, Most, the municipal department of Ostrava-město, the municipal departments of Prague 7 and 8, Šumperk, and Ústí nad Orlicí.

The results of the IPM pilot test will be assessed by the end of this year, and next year as many as 500 clients in 28 localities all over the country should be involved in the next phase of the project. The process is being inspired by the experiences of the pilot testing, so that the tool can finally be set up as part of the active employment policy and gradually introduced throughout the Czech Republic as a whole.

Support for the IPM also comes from the criticism of the European Commission, which has long warned that the Czech Republic concentrates all employment support on public service jobs above all, which do not lead to long-term integration into the labor market. Integration jobs are, therefore, a welcome change that can really aid job-seekers with overcoming the obstacles to entering the labor market and assist people with social handicaps with returning to society.

Inspiring stories

The conference presented many stories showing that appropriate employment can be a fundamental step toward change for those with problems in various areas of their lives. However, work alone is not enough – what is essential is support in the areas of debt, health, housing and personal development. The client participation in the conference was clear evidence that involvement in the IPM program has had a deep impact not just on their working lives, but also on their personal situations. The comprehensive approach and support mean these people managed to achieve not just specific successes with work, but mainly to have the hope of and opportunity to return to living full-fledged lives.

The Integration Jobs conference was convened by the Agency for Social Inclusion together with the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, the Labor Office, and the Czech Streetwork Association.