Abstract

The CEE countries have to create their own flexicurity policies which would take into account the employment policy guidelines, cultural traditions and socio-economic development. The aim of this article is to examine and evaluate the implementation of the flexicurity concept on the basis of the adopted set of composite indicators. The study covers 9 countries of the CEE region, and the research period covers the years 2007 and 2013. A review of previous research has demonstrated that there are no studies which would take into account a wide range of indicators included in the composite index of flexicurity. Moreover, in the case of CEE countries there is a lack of publications which would compare the degree of flexibility and security of their labour markets or studies that would compare flexicurity indicators for two different moments in time. This article tries to fill this research gap. The analysis of a composite indicator of flexicurity and its component elements shows large differences in the implementation of the flexicurity concept in the individual CEE countries. The labour market in the CEE countries is still characterized by high strictness of Employment Protection Legislation, which adversely affects the outcomes of the labour market. On the other hand, CEE countries have made great efforts in increasing the role of active labour market policies and non-standard forms of work in the last decade. In most of the countries studied the problem is still related to a relatively small share of individuals engaged in life-long learning and to ensuring the security of those working on non-standard employment contracts.

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