Labour Market Reforms and Changes in Social Protection Systems: From Welfare to Workfare

This paper deals with the situation on the European labour market and especially on the Czech labour market. It shows the impact of long-term unemployment - a crucial problem in contemporary European countries - on the economy and on the society and its integrity. Great attention is paid to the social parasitism of the long-term unemployed and to the conversion of social protection systems that started in the late 1990s, when the new principle of social protection systems - the coercive principle - was set up. The principal fi ndings concern the decline in long-term unemployment both on the European labour market and on the Czech labour market after the conversion of the social protection systems. Last but not least, the paper deals with labour market flexibility.