"In 1991, the unemployment rate in Slovakia increased from almost zero to twelve per cent. Originally the high level of unemployment was welcomed as a signal of economic restructuring. However, after eight years of transition there is still a doubledigit unemployment rate. This can no longer be attributed to the transitional restructuring process. In this situation, the Slovak authorities have started to pay more attention to active labour market policies as one of the means of decreasing the high unemployment rate. The system of active labour market policies (ALMP) in the Slovak Republic, originally created in 1991, has gone through several substantial reforms. After this learning-by-doing process, a new set of ALMP measures was introduced in 1997. This paper summarises the institutional framework of ALMPs in Slovakia and its development during the period of economic transition 1991-1996. The first section contains a general overview of the development of unemployment in Slovakia after 1991. In the second, the institutional framework of ALMPs is summarised and the two main programmes are described in more detail. The third section discusses the results of previous empirical studies dealing with the effectiveness of ALMP programmes in transitional economies. Finally, the role of the social partners, mainly the trade unions, is described in the fourth section. A detailed chronological development of basic ALMP programmes in Slovakia is presented in Appendix 1, while a technical Appendix 2 contains an estimation of the effectiveness of ALMP spending in the Slovak Republic."

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