Inna Čábelková   ,

Charles University in Prague Czech Republic inna.cabelkova@fhs.cuni.cz

THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL TRANSFERS ON THE LEVEL OF UNEMPLOYMENT OF DISABLED IN EU

ABSTRACT. Employment brings disabled people not only the necessary income for reasonable life, but also serves as an important part of social inclusion. It is rarely stressed in the literature that in order to find a job it is necessary to possess certain level of welfare. The role of the state in providing that for disabled cannot be underestimated. This way, social transfers may decrease unemployment among disabled peo- ple. On the other hand, classical literature suggests, that so- cial transfers demotivate people from looking for a job thus increasing unemployment. This paper studies the effects or reduction in poverty among disabled caused by social trans- fers on the level of unemployment of disabled in EU coun- tries on macro level. We use data collected by Eurostat in the European Union Labor Force Survey in 2011. Our results suggest that the bigger is the effect of social transfers on the level of poverty, the higher is the unemployment of disabled with only a basic activity difficulty. The effect of reduction in poverty caused by social transfers on unemployment of disabled with limitation in work caused by a health condi- tion and/or a basic activity difficulty is not statistically sig- nificant.

Received: January, 2015

1st Revision: April, 2015 Accepted: May, 2015 

DOI:10.14254/2071- 789X.2015/8-1/23

JEL Classification: E24, Z13, H71

Keywords: unemployment, disabled, social transfers, pov- erty