REDUCED WORKING HOURS AS A STATE GUARANTEE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF YOUTH WORKERS’ HUMAN CAPITAL

Abstract

Over the last two decades there has been a steady increase in the level of youth involvement in economic activity, coupled with a rapid decline in the age of entry into the labour market, largely due to the overall low standard of living in Ukraine. Very often earning a living becomes for young people a priority compared to the opportunities to receive quality vocational education, and often to one’s own health. In such conditions state intervention in the  organization of youth employment becomes especially relevant, in particular by regulating the working time of such workers and the peculiarities of their payment.One of the most explicit state guarantees for the social protection of certain categories of workers and, at the same time, an effective lever for the preservation and development of their human capital is reduced working hours. The basic state guarantees in the field of regulation of young workers’ working time by reducing it are identified on the basis of the analysis of the current labour legislation of Ukraine. Legally regulated moments of reduction of working time for certain categories of employees are analysed in the context of their potential impact on specific components of individual human capital.For many employers the need to apply such safeguards shapes the stereotypes of economic inappropriateness in concluding employment relationships with young workers on a formal employment basis. Therefore, there is a need to create effective mechanisms to encourage business representatives to develop the human capital of this category of employees.