Enhancing Employability through Social Enterprises in Latvia and Czech Republic

1. Lolita Vilka /Latvia/ Leona Stašová /Czech Republic/ Enhancing employability through capacity building of the unemployed people

2. Long –term unemployment in Latvia and Czech Republic: reproduction of new generation of the unemployed people Employability gap The social enterprise approach to improve of the employability capacity of the long term unemployed

3. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do#

4. Problem:reproduction of new generation of the unemployed people Reproduction of unemployment influences the society, itsinstitutions, social network and the concrete family system. Observations and analysis of social case studies reveal that in many cases people who have not had a regular job for a long time, experience an ambivalent condition between desire andability. Apart from lack of a concrete, acquired professional skills, they have also lost essential human abilities that characterize capacity of workability or strength to work; among them: • habit to be employed • ability to be in work rhythm – endurance • relationship in cooperation and subordination • creativity • self-initiative, purposefulness and performance, and other qualities

5. Myths about youth unemployment/YOUNG ADULTS IN THE LABOR MARKET: ASSESSMENT OF THECURRENT SITUATION AND OF THE FACTORS DETERMING EMPLOYMENT. Riga: Institute of Sociological Research(2007)/ • Young people have no problems in accessing education (education is available to all young people) • Young people like to "toss around" in search of better work, so they choose a number of short-term jobs to gain experience and find the best one; • Young people are poor because they do not work; • Employers are much more interested to engage adults who must support their families, than the young people, who are free; The general stereotype - the young people are not mature enough for serious employment relationships, not enough responsible and hardworking (a widespread view among the medium and elder generation), so employers often do not trust them,

6. "Job seekers face a more profound form of multi-dimensional disadvantage, best characterized as an"Employability gap".[McQuaid & Lindsay, 2002] The employability conception includes a wide range of factors:individual factors;personal circumstances;external factors.

7. ‘Personal circumstances’,include a range of socioeconomic contextual factors related to individuals’ social and household circumstances. ... ‘External factors’include those influencing a person’s employability, such as labor demand conditions and enabling support of employment-related public services. ‘Individual factors’:Essential attributes – basic social skills; honesty and integrity; basic personal presentation; reliability; willingness to work; understanding of actions and consequences; positive attitude to work; responsibility; self-discipline; Personal competencies; Proactivity; diligence; self motivation; judgment; initiative; assertiveness; confidence; act autonomously - should be considered as basic factors of employability capacity, and are forming and developing in the course of work socialisation.

8. The case studyof Latvia: paradox of poverty - poverty cannot be overcome by the job ! Factors such as risingunemployment and povertyover the past twenty years have created unfavourablecoincidence of theindividual, personal circumstances and external factors of the employability which leads to employability capacity deficit and possible marked social and employment deprivation. The case study ofCzechRepublic: Socio - economics strategy allows maintain relatively low unemployment rate and overcome poverty and guarantee the sustainability Social enterprises ~56,852 Associations Cooperatives Public Benefit Companies Social Enterprise:A new model for poverty reduction and employment generation (UNDP, 2008)

9. Strength of the social enterprise working with unemployed (1) • 'Social enterprise' is notan artificial construction. The basic elements for social enterprise - reciprocity, mutually beneficialexchange and cooperation – stems from humans every day experience; as a kind of simple 'kvazi-social enterprise‘ model; • Social enterprise orients its members to produce and manage the proceeds. • 'Social enterprise' can serve as a quite flexible working environment where is possible to take into account the main employability aspects: personal circumstances,external factors and individual factors • Family can work as the first social enterprise and the environment for the work socialization.

10. Strength of the social enterprise working with unemployed (2) Social enterprise practice is effective to realize the main aspects affecting achievements of long term unemployed persons: • to provide the supportive social environment • to discover and improve the subjective resources – knowledge, skills, experience, initiative etc. • to facilitate step-by-step adaptation to the working culture environment • to advance accumulation of good experience of personal achievements in the working environment In the social enterprise practice persons regain their own social identity; that helps to increase the social status of the concrete person and to stabilize his/her family system

11. The problems in implementation • political indecision to cope with unemployment in factand invest in human work force restoration of long term unemployed • insufficient understanding of the complex nature of unemployment andemployability, also - the mistrust to the social enterprise potentialities • lack of resources • insufficient understanding of the 'social enterprise', as follows - the social enterprise’s unclear and uncertain status in the entrepreneurship environment • social pedagogues / social workers insufficient work competences in the social economics field working with unemployed

12. Thank you !