This thesis deals with motivation of long-term unemployed when looking for a job. It is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part deals with basic overview of theories of motivation and motivation to work. It also defines basic concepts regarding long- term unemployment. In connection with the issue it describes a system of material poverty, unemployment and abuse of social benefits. The final chapter of this section is devoted to a summary of the theoretical part. The practical part of the work contains the results of a research. Qualitative method and semi- structured interviews with beneficiaries in material need were used for data acquisition. The aim of the research is to understand what factors influence the motivation of long-term unemployed when looking for a job and when trying to solve their social situation. Part of this section is the interpretation of the results of the research and its evaluation.

Diploma thesis "The influence of the major players in the labour market on solving unemployment in Litomerice region." is dealing with the problem of long-term unemployment through cooperation in the field of major players in the labor market. Current employment policy objectives, based on the strategy of "Europe 2020" puts the emphasis on efficient use of active employment policy, which is one of the major tools for dealing with unemployment. This work addresses the layed out issues at the local level of Litomerice region, knowledge of the local labor market and job opportunities supports meaningful use of these tools. Developing cooperation with all actors in the labor market supports the complexity of employment programs, which may positively affect the development of employment opportunities at the regional level. The purpose of this study is to analyze the current state of cooperation in tackling unemployment and develop proposals to improve the use of all available options when dealing with unemployment. Keywords: actors in the labor market, labor market, employment, long-term unemployment, the Job Office, Employment Services Klíčová slova: aktéři trhu práce, trh práce, politika zaměstnanosti, dlouhodobá nezaměstnanost, úřad práce, služby zaměstnanosti

The diploma thesis is focused on the issue of public works as a tool for employability improvement of selected job applicants in the Czech Republic. For research purposes the public works are community works and public service. The elementary theoretical basis have been formed by the concept of workfare, the concept of lifelong employability and implementation. In connection to the above- mentioned, the thesis deals with the system of public works in the Czech Republic, especially with its setup and its relation to long-term unemployment. In addition, the thesis also reflects the role of public works for further assertion of long-term unemployed in the labour market. Examples of best practice abroad (in the selected European country - Poland) have been given for the sake of comparison here. It has been found out that while community works are already standardly used tool of active employment policy, the current form of public service needs innovations. Moreover, after finishing public works, people activated by that way usually become unemployed again. Therefore, the role of public works for further assertion of long-term unemployed consists mainly of soft benefits (basic work habits, socialization, etc.).

In der qualitativen Forschungsarbeit wird die Frage bearbeitet: "Wie interpretieren sich von Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit betroffene Menschen hinsichtlich ihrer sozialen Anerkennung in einer Arbeitsgesellschaft, in der Arbeit als verpflichtender Wert eine zentrale Stellung einnimmt und in der aber zugleich nicht genügend Arbeitsmöglichkeiten zur Verfügung stehen?". Dazu wird zuerst das Verhältnis von Erwerbsarbeit und Arbeitsgesellschaft diskutiert, um so ein begriffliches Verständnis von Erwerbsarbeit herauszuarbeiten. Anschließend werden Wandlungsprozesse der Arbeitsgesellschaft betrachtet, um einen Bedeutungszuwachs von Erwerbsarbeit im Zuge dieses zu verdeutlichen und um das Konzept der Ökonomisierung des Sozialen und der ökonomischen Einstellung einzuführen. In das bis dahin Skizzierte, soll dann über den Zwischenschritt der Einführung eines Konzeptes von sozialer Anerkennung ein Verständnis von Arbeitslosigkeit und Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit platziert werden. Aus den dadurch deutlich werdenden Schnittflächen, Kontrasten und Querverbindungen, kann dem dann anstehenden Forschungsvorhaben eine Form gegeben werden. Das Konzept der sozialen Anerkennung ist dabei bewusst zwischen den Betrachtungen zur Arbeitsgesellschaft und denen zur Arbeitslosigkeit platziert. Denn dieses soll bei der Explikation des Begriffsverständnisses von Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit, schon als Hintergrundfolie mitgedacht werden können. Daran anschließend wird eine theoretische Verknüpfung von Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit und sozialer Anerkennung vorgenommen und mit einem Blick auf den aktuellen Forschungsstand zur Thematik der Übergang zum Forschungsteil geschaffen.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur studie- och yrkesvägledare som arbetar med långtidsarbetslösa uppfattar fenomenet livslångt lärande. Uppfattningarna leder oss mot en djupare förståelse för hur fenomenet livslångt lärande konstrueras och hur denna konstruktion formar den praktik där studie- och yrkesvägledaren och den arbetslöse befinner sig. För att fånga dessa uppfattningar av livslångt lärande utgår studien från en fenomenografisk ansats och empirin samlas in genom intervjuer med åtta studie- och yrkesvägledare som arbetar med individer i långtidsarbetslöshet. Studiens resultat visar på att konstruktionerna kring fenomenet livslångt lärande hos respondenterna innehåller uppfattningar om livslångt lärande som ett verktyg till den ekonomiska utvecklingen i vårt land. Inbyggt i denna konstruktion återfinns även uppfattningar om en idealbild kring hur individer ska kunna ta del av den del av det livslånga lärande som erbjuds inom ramen för utbildning eller arbete. För de individer som befinner sig i långtidsarbetslöshet och faller utanför denna ram blir studie- och yrkesvägledaren en central person. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how study and career counsellors who work with the long- term unemployed perceive the phenomenon of lifelong learning. The perceptions lead us to a deeper understanding of how the phenomenon of lifelong learning is constructed and how this construction shapes the practice where the study and career counselor unemployed are. To capture these perceptions of lifelong learning, the study is based on a phenomenographic approach and the empirical data is collected through interviews with eight study and career counsellors who work with individuals in long-term unemployment. The results of the study show that the constructions around the phenomenon of lifelong learning in the respondents contain perceptions of lifelong learning as a tool for the economic development in our country. Built into this construction are also perceptions of an ideal picture of how individuals should be able to take part in the part of life-long learning that is offered within the framework of education or work. For those individuals who are in long-term unemployment and fall outside this framework, the study and career counsellor becomes a key person. The study and career counselor ́s constructions of lifelong learning affect professional practice, which need to be made visible and reflected on.

Unemployment at young age is a negative life event that has been found to have scarring effects for future life outcomes, especially when continuing long-term. Understanding precursors for long-term unemployment in early adulthood is important to be able to target policy interventions in critical junctures in the life course. Paths to unemployment are complex and a comprehensive outlook on the most important factors and mechanisms is difficult to obtain. This study proposes a data-driven, exploratory approach for studying individual and family level factors during ages 0-24, that predict long-term unemployment at the age of 25-30. A supervised machine learning approach was applied to understand associations deriving from longitudinal, individual-level administrative data from a full birth cohort in Finland. The data comprise information about physical and social wellbeing, life course events, as well as demographics, including the parents of the cohort members. Potential predictors were chosen from the data based on theories and previous research, and used to train a model aiming to correctly classify unemployed individuals. A CART algorithm was used to build a classification tree that reveals important variables, ranges of them as well as combinations of factors that together are predictive of long-term unemployment. A random forest algorithm was used to build several trees producing smoothed predictions that reduce overfitting of one tree. CARTs and random forest models were compared to each other to understand how they perform in a research task predicting life outcomes. Both individual and family level factors were found to be predictive of the outcome. Combinations of variables such as GPA lower than ~7.5, ego’s low education level, late work history start, depressive disorders and low parental education and income levels were found to be particularly predictive of unemployment. CART models correctly classified up to 87% of the unemployed, while misclassifying 70% of the employed and having 45% overall accuracy. Testing for CART model stability, finding consistency across several tree models improved robustness. Random forest correctly predicted up to 59% of the unemployed, while also correctly classifying 65% of the employed and producing robust results. The two algorithms together provided valuable insight for better understanding factors contributing to unemployment. The study shows promise for classification tree based methods in studying life course and life outcomes.

(in English) The aim of this master's thesis is to find out possibilities of elderly people employment in social businesses in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part describes a social entrepreneurship, defines it and gives its legal frame and examples of such businesses in Europe and in the Czech Republic. The elderly are defined according to their characteristics and also according to the possible link to long term unemployment. The empirical part of the thesis focuses on the overall situation of the elderly in social businesses and on factors possibly affecting their employment in this kind of businesses. It was found out in the research that the selected target group is one of those most at risk on the labour market. At the same time, this group is one of the least supported and monitored not only in the social businesses. However, persons 50+ may become a significant group on the labour market in the future. The final part of this thesis stresses out that it is vital to change our point of view on this target group and their support on the field of active labour market policy, but, above all, to make use of the opportunity to employ these people in social entrepreneurship. Keywords (in English) social economy, social entrepreneurship, social business, elderly, people 50+, long term...

Abstract Coping at work and job retention have been on the list of priorities of European countries for some decades. Vocational rehabilitation is a key measure for preventing work disability, but its possibilities have remained unused in many respects. Moreover, rehabilitation tasks are defined differently depending on the perspective taken. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the possibilities that arise from defining work-related rehabilitation tasks in a way that combines different perspectives and interests. The research questions are: 1) What were the impacts on working career and psychosocial factors of an intervention for long-term unemployed people with disabilities? 2) What kind of processes and mechanisms promoted the working careers and other outcomes of the employed people during the interventions? 3) What forms of collaboration took place between the rehabilitees and different stakeholders, and to what extent did the rehabilitees have opportunities to choose and act during the process? The empirical data for the study were collected from two vocational rehabilitation research projects. The research design was a multiple case study from multiple perspectives combined with mixed methods. The materials were collected through surveys, individual and group interviews, documents, and register follow-up. We found the contextual mechanism through which the outcomes of the work-related rehabilitation emerged. The process was promoted or hindered by actions taken by all stakeholders. The promoting or hindering mechanisms were born through the actions taken by the supervisor in particular, the occupational health service and rehabilitation service provider, and the individual’s life situation factors. Similar factors promoted and hindered the re-employment and staying or returning to work outcomes. Enhancing the rehabilitees’ own agency is also important, regardless of how weak it is at the beginning. I also present a new way of assigning rehabilitation tasks, which structures the complexity of the field of work-related rehabilitation and helps manage it. Work-related rehabilitation is a combination of societal and individual actions. The results of this study will help all actors involved in rehabilitation to improve the outcomes of work-related rehabilitation by developing opportunities for the rehabilitees’ own agency and collaboration / Tiivistelmä Työurien jatkaminen on keskeinen eurooppalaisten yhteiskuntien selviämisen haaste. Kuntoutus on riittämättömästi hyödynnetty resurssi työurien pidentämiseksi. Lisäksi kuntoutuksen tehtävät määrittyvät eri näkökulmista eri tavalla. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tarkastella, miten työikäisten kuntoutuksen tehtävää voitaisiin määritellä eri toimijoiden intressejä ja päämääriä yhdistäen. Tutkimuskysymyksiä oli kolme: 1) Mitkä olivat monimuotoisen ammatillisen kuntoutuksen vaikutukset pitkäaikaistyöttömien työuraan ja muihin psykososiaalisiin tekijöihin? 2) Millaiset prosessit ja mekanismit edistivät työuria työllisten monimuotoisen ammatillisen kuntoutuksen interventiossa? 3) Minkälaisia yhteistyömuotoja työhön kytkeytyvässä kuntoutuksessa kuntoutujan ja eri toimijoiden välillä toteutui, ja missä määrin kuntoutujat pystyivät vaikuttamaan omiin valinta- ja toimintamahdollisuuksiinsa prosessin aikana? Aineisto koostui kahden ammatillisen kuntoutuksen kehittämishankkeen arviointitutkimusaineistoista. Tutkimusasetelma oli monitapaustutkimus, joka oli toteutettu moninäkökulmaisena mixed method –tutkimuksena. Aineistot oli koottu kyselyiden, yksilö- ja ryhmähaastatteluiden, dokumenttien ja rekisteriseurannan avulla. Aineistojen analyysejä oli tehty aineistokokonaisuuksittain analysoiden kvantitatiiviset ja kvalitatiiviset aineistot erikseen sekä yhdistämällä aineistoja tapaustutkimuksen keinoin. Tutkimuksessa löytyi mekanismi, jonka kautta kuntoutuksen tulokset syntyivät tai jäivät syntymättä. Edistävät ja estävät mekanismit liittyivät erityisesti esimiehen, työterveyshuollon ja kuntoutuksen palvelutuottajan toimintaan ja kuntoutujan elämäntilanteeseen. Samanlaiset tekijät edistivät ja estivät työttömillä ja työllisillä kuntoutumista. Lisäksi työhön kytkeytyvässä kuntoutuksessa kuntoutujan oman toimijuuden tukeminen on tärkeää, vaikka se alkuvaiheessa olisi vähäinen. Tutkimuksessa kuvataan työikäisten kuntoutuksen tehtävät uuden mallin avulla. Tämä jäsentää ammatillisen kuntoutuksen kentän kompleksisuutta ja auttaa hallitsemaan sitä. Työhön kytkeytyvä kuntoutus muodostuu yhteiskuntaan ja yksilöön kohdistuvista toimista, joilla mahdollistetaan työelämään paluu ja osallistuminen. Tulosten avulla kuntoutuksen toteuttajat, tutkijat ja viranomaiset voivat parantaa kuntoutuksen työuravaikutuksia kehittämällä kuntoutujan osallistumismahdollisuuksia ja yhteistoimintaa.

Zum gesellschaftlich relevanten Thema des Arbeitsmarktes findet sich kaum arbeitspsychologische Empirie. Erste Hinweise auf ein die Gesundheit Erwerbstätiger gefährdendes Potenzial einer schlechten Arbeitsmarktlage geben Studien aus den Bereichen der Freiwilligkeit in der Erwerbsarbeit und der Arbeitsplatzunsicherheit. Alle diese Studien sind jedoch Befragungen mit dem methodenimmanenten Interpretationsproblem der gemeinsamen Methodenvarianz. Unter Ausschluss dieses Methodenproblems wird zunächst ein Beitrag zur Klärung der Bedeutung der Arbeitsmarktsituation für die psychische Gesundheit Erwerbstätiger geleistet. In einem zweiten Schritt werden empirisch bewährte Merkmale der Arbeitssituation in die Analysen einbezogen. Den theoretischen Rahmen der Arbeit bilden das Belastungs-Beanspruchungs-Konzept (BBK) und ein spezifiziertes Zwei-Ebenen-Modell. Sekundäranalytisch werden zweier branchenspezifische Gelegenheitsstichproben (N1 = 183; N2 = 314) und die repräsentative BIBB/IAB-Strukturerhebung von 1998/1999 (N3 = 34.343) ausgewertet. Es liegt ein ex-post-facto-Design vor. Das Merkmal der Arbeitsmarktsituation wird als Risiko langzeitarbeitslos zu werden operationalisiert und dokumentenanalytisch generiert. Diese Operationalisierung erweist sich als valide. Die anderen Merkmale werden mittels schriftlicher Befragungen erhoben. Die Datenauswertung erfolgt mit Methoden des ALM. Die globalen Zusammenhänge zwischen der Arbeitsmarktsituation und der psychischen Gesundheit Erwerbstätiger sind marginal. Bei Betrachtung der mit Hilfe des BBK gebildeten Subgruppen zeigen sich jedoch hypothesenkonform veränderte Zusammenhänge. Dieses Ergebnismuster kann im Sinne des sozialepidemiologischen Risikofaktorenmodells als Beleg für das Belastungspotenzial einer schlechten Arbeitsmarktsituation angesehen werden. Zentral für die Vorhersage der psychischen Gesundheit Erwerbstätiger sind jedoch die Merkmale der Arbeitssituation: Auch in Zeiten mit einer problematischen Arbeitsmarktsituation reicht es nicht aus, einfach nur Arbeit zu haben. Die konkrete Arbeitssituation bleibt zentral. / Within the field of occupational psychology there is very little empirical research on the socially highly relevant topic of the labor market. Studies on voluntariness within gainful occupation and on job insecurity have provided initial evidence that a poor labor market situation poses a potential risk to employees’ health. However, all of these studies can be criticized for having the method-immanent interpretation problem of shared method variance. Excluding this methodological problem, the present study, first, contributes to clarifying the role of the labor market situation for employees’ mental health. In a second step, empirically established characteristics of the personal job situation are included in the analyses. The theoretical framework for this research is the stress-strain concept (SSC) and a more specific two-level model. Secondary analyses are conducted with two sectoral convenience samples (N1 = 183; N2 = 314) and the representative BIBB/IAB data set of 1998/1999 (N3 = 34.343). An ex-post-facto design is used. The characteristic of the labor market situation was operationalized as the risk for long-term unemployment, which was generated through document analyses. This operationalization proves to be valid. Other characteristics were assessed with questionnaires. Data analyses were conducted with methods of the GLM. The overall relations between the labor market situation and mental health are marginal. However, when studying subgroups that were formed utilizing the SSC the observed relations vary as hypothesized. These findings can be interpreted within the social-epidemiological risk-factor model as a demonstration of the stress potential of poor labor market conditions. Nevertheless, the central predictors of employees’ mental health are characteristics of the personal job situation: Even in times of a problematic labor market situation just being employed it is not sufficient to ensure good mental health. The person’s specific job situation remains central.

L'exclusion sociale est considérée comme l'une des situations les plus douloureuses pour les êtres humains. Les travaux dans ce domaine montrent que même de brefs épisodes d’ostracisme (paradigme du Cyberball) ont des effets importants aux niveaux neurophysiologique, émotionnel et comportemental, l’impact de cet ostracisme au niveau cognitif néanmoins n'a pas reçu beaucoup d'attention. Des résultats récents mettent en évidence une influence négative de l'ostracisme sur les marqueurs électrophysiologiques du contrôle cognitif, il n'y a cependant à ce jour aucune preuve directe d’une réduction de contrôle cognitif sous l’effet d’une exclusion sociale. Dans nos travaux nous avons étudié l'impact de l'ostracisme (Cyberball) sur le contrôle cognitif avec la tâche standard de Simon couplée à des analyses distributionnelles des temps de réaction auprès de populations caractérisées ou non par des expériences chroniques d’ostracisme (i.e., des étudiants ordinaires dans l’Étude 1, des personnes illettrées dans l'Étude 2 et des chômeurs de longue durée dans l'Étude 3). Dans les trois études, de brefs épisodes d'exclusion sociale suffisent à dégrader le niveau de satisfaction exprimé par les participants à l’égard des besoins fondamentaux (appartenance sociale, existence significative, estime de soi, contrôle des événements). Ces effets, cependant, s’avèrent réduits dans les populations chroniquement frappées d'ostracisme, suggérant leur moindre sensibilité à l'exclusion sociale en jeu dans le Cyberball. Plus important encore, cet ostracisme provoque chez les participants non stigmatisés une diminution du contrôle cognitif (Étude 1), mise en évidence dans nos travaux par un effet Simon stable (plutôt que réduit) sur les temps de réaction les plus longs pourtant les plus sensibles à l’expression d’un processus d'inhibition. Cependant, nos résultats ne montrent aucune différence de sensibilité entre les participants chroniquement ostracisés et leurs groupes contrôle (les Études 2 et 3), suggérant une certaine faiblesse du paradigme Cyberball auprès des personnes en situation d'exclusion sociale dans leur vie quotidienne. Nos résultats remettent donc en question la prédominance de ce paradigme pour la compréhension des effets cognitifs de l’exclusion sociale, au moins chez les individus caractérisés par un ostracisme chronique. / Impact on cognitive control, emotions and fundamental needsRésumé : Social exclusion is considered as one of the most painful situations for human beings. Past research showed that even brief episodes of ostracism (the Cyberball paradigm) have strong effects at the neurophysiological, emotional, and behavioral levels, its impact at the cognitive level however did not receive much attention. Recent findings revealed a negative influence of ostracism on electrophysiological markers of cognitive control, yet there is no direct evidence that being socially excluded reduces cognitive control. Here, we investigated the impact of ostracism (using the Cyberball) on cognitive control using a standard Simon task and distributional reaction time analyses with non-chronically-ostracized and chronically-ostracized populations (regular students in Study 1, illiterate people in Study 2, and long-term unemployed people in Study 3). In the three studies, brief episodes of social exclusion had negative effects on participants’ self-reports of fundamental needs' satisfaction (belonging, meaningful existence, self-esteem, and control). These effects, however, were substantially reduced in chronically-ostracized populations, suggesting that ostracism based on the Cyberball is a bit less meaningful for those populations. More importantly, this ostracism caused a transitory reduction in cognitive control in the non-chronically-ostracized participants (Study 1), as indicated by a stable (rather than decreased) Simon effect on longer reaction times where inhibition yet is more likely. However, we found no evidence of a differential sensitivity between the chronically-ostracized participants and their control groups (Study 2 and Study 3), suggesting that the Cyberball paradigm is not powerful enough with people experiencing social exclusion in their ordinary life. Our findings therefore call into question the predominance of the Cyberball paradigm for our understanding of the cognitive effects of ostracism, at least in chronically ostracized-individuals.