The methods of measuring the effectiveness of active labour market programmes in the European Union

Active labour market policy is crucial element of European Union Employment Strategy in the area of improvement the labour market situation. However, the condition of appropriate usage of public expenditures is the choice of effective instruments and their adjustment to the socio-economic conditions of the separate countries. To obtain that objective it is needed a long process of evaluation of different active measures. The first step is the choice of appropriate methods assessing the effectiveness of active labour market programmes. The paper objective is presenting the methods of measuring the effectiveness of labour market programmes, which are used in the European Union countries. Moreover there were indicated the effective instruments in different EU members - both developed countries, representing high level of expenditures on ALMPs as well as transition economies.