The thesis addresses topical scientific tasks of substantiation of the theoretical basis of the state youth employment policy at the regional level, and development of recommendations as to improvement of its implementation mechanisms in Ukraine.
Based on the analysis of scientific research, the essence of the state regional youth employment policy was specified to be a set of measures of direct and indirect impact on regional socio-economic development exerted due to a coordinated interaction of public authorities and local governments with civil society institutions, businesses, educational establishments, and young people, which is aimed at creation of conditions and guarantees for an effective usage of the labor and entrepreneurial capacities of the youth, meeting young people’s social and personal needs in the field of employment and self-fulfillment. Application of a comprehensive approach allows defining youth employment as an object of several state policies, namely: employment, social, youth, and education policies.
Generalization of the European experience of the state youth employment policy has made it possible to distinguish the experience of Poland to be used for the adaptation of the Ukrainian legislative reality with regard to application of mechanisms of active reduction of unemployment; introduction of motivational mechanisms for employers and specialists of employment centers.
Substantiation of the essence of changes in models of the state regional youth employment policy in Ukraine was done on the basis of the analysis of its legal mechanism formation, taking into account market transformations, application of the relevant methods of youth employment policies, in particular: paternalistic model; model of a relevant policy using economic methods; “mixed’ model (using economic and command methods) with the exception of youth employment issues from the subject matter of youth and education policies, and destruction of the network of youth labor centers; model of implementation of youth employment policy in the conditions of decentralization, engagement of young people in the formation and implementation of youth employment policy at the regional level.
The regional features of the implementation of regional employment programs, inequalities in employment of young people are revealed. It is proved that the implementation of regional employment programs in the conditions of decentralization of public administration allows eliminating the existing inequalities in youth employment, in particular in rural areas.
It is substantiated that public-private partnership is an innovative tool for implementing public employment policy at the regional level. The conceptual scheme of public-private partnership has been developed as an effective tool for implementing the regional youth employment policy in Kharkiv region.
Based on an expert survey, the challenges in implementing the state regional youth employment policy have been determined, in particular, the lack of coordination between the activities of local authorities, their agencies in the field of youth employment, and higher educational institutions, vocational schools, civil society institutions, and businesses.
The thesis for the first time offered a conceptual model of the state regional youth employment policy, which involves the transformation of youth labor centers into coordination platforms of inter-sectoral interaction between public administration bodies, local governments, employment agencies, higher and secondary educational institutions, civil society institutions, and businesses; intensification of their activities in the line of forecasting, monitoring the needs of regional youth labor markets, informing young people of vacancies, and employers – about ratings of graduates of higher educational institutions and vocational schools through creation of an electronic bank of resumes and electronic register of the relevant ratings in order to increase the competitiveness of young people in the labor market at the expense of an increase in their subjectivity in policy formation and implementation. This will enhance the effectiveness of the public youth employment policy at the regional level in Ukraine.
Кeywords: state regional youth employment policy; mechanisms, methods, instruments of state regional youth employment policy; models of state employment policy at regional level; public-private partnership; conceptual scheme of implementing public-private partnership in information technologies; youth labor centers, coordinative inter-sectoral interaction; conceptual model of state regional youth employment policy.
