ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICIES IN SPAIN AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE REDUCTION OF REGIONAL INEQUALITIES

Active employment policies are born as an instrument to improve the level of employability of the unemployed and to reduce social differences at the interregional level. Currently, through the European Social Fund (ESF), 10 billion euros are allocated to finance public employment programs. In this article, the main objective is to analyze the role played by these public resources in reducing regional differences in Spain at the level of autonomous communities. To this end, the evolution of the Theil index during the period 2002-2017 has been analyzed. The results show how the differences between the defined groups and intragroups have been maintained during the analyzed period.