Page 6 - IDEA Study 3 2018 Low skilled

population. Third, given that substantially more women than men are in the inactive low- skilled population, effective reintegration policies should be tailored to the specific needs of women, such as decreasing the tax burden for secondary earners, increasing the supply of affordable child care, and providing more flexible working conditions.  As a low-level of skills is often combined with other socio-economic problems that may further impede the return of the low-skilled to the labor market, effective (re)integration policies must also address these aspects. For example, interventions that focus on financial literacy or financial contributions that support regional mobility may be important supplementary measures to assist the low-skilled.  The low-skilled who participate in the labor market also encounter many problems. They are highly likely to be long-term unemployed (61% of unemployed have been searching for a job for more than one year) and they often become unemployed due to the end of a temporary contract. The high prevalence of temporary contracts among the employed low-skilled (42% work on temporary contracts) is also connected to very short job tenure (median tenure of 2.2 years).  In 2016, low-skilled jobs paid a median gross monthly wage of CZK 18,252, but the pay varied substantially from CZK 11,093 at the 10th percentile to CZK 29,261 at the 90th percentile. The low-skilled in the public sector earn much lower wages than those in the private sector, and the wage levels also differ by occupation. Elementary Occupations are the lowest paid, in which almost one third of the low-skilled work (50% of low-skilled workers in this occupation earn less than CZK 13,000 per month). Further, almost 40% of the low-skilled work as Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers, earning a median wage of CZK 22,000.  What policies can help the low-skilled acquire and retain a permanent (and a well-paid) job? First, the low-skilled typically have a much higher unemployment rate than other skill-groups. While active labor market policies assist job seekers in finding employment, the low-skilled participate mostly in public work programs, which are the least effective of the activating measures. There is clearly a need for well-tailored training programs that target specifically the low-skilled and that combine theory with practice provided by the employers. Second, the low-skilled often work on the basis of temporary contracts or one-off job agreements and struggle to retain a stable job. Additional incentives for employers to offer the low-skilled long- term contracts and invest in their skills via on-the-job training could help increase job stability. However, evidence that some low-skilled workers are not attractive to private employers, even when their jobs are partly supported by a state subsidy, implies that upskilling (i.e. acquiring labor-market relevant skills and competencies via lifelong learning) is the most important long-term solution to improving the situation of the low-skilled. 4