The purpose of this law is to provide support for unemployed persons, persons seeking employment and persons subject to the risk of unemployment in order to facilitate their ability to compete in the labour market.

This law establishes the active employment measures and preventive measures for unemployment reduction (intended for unemployed persons, persons seeking employment and persons subject to the risk of unemployment), the competence of the state and local governments in the implementation of these measures, as well as the status, rights and duties of an unemployed person and person seeking employment.

Active employment measures include:

• occupational training, retraining and raising of qualifications;
• paid temporary public works;
• measures to increase competitiveness, including assistance in job seeking;
• measures for specified groups of persons;
• measures to facilitate start-up of commercial activities and self-employment;
• work practice in the workplace, which provides an opportunity to determine vocational suitability;
• training with an employer;
• complex support measures.

Preventive measures include:

• career consultations;
• raising of the qualifications, retraining and further education of persons employed by merchants and self-employed;
• facilitating the regional mobility of persons employed by merchants;
• facilitating the acquisition of the official language;
• training programmes for involving adults in lifelong learning;
• training programmes for employed persons subject to the risk of unemployment.

Persons who are entitled for the support have the right to unemployed person status after registration with the State Employment Agency and:

• who is not working;
• who is seeking employment;
• who is capable of work and is ready to enter into employment relationships without delay;
• who has attained 15 years of age;
• who has not attained the age that entitles one to receive the State old-age pension, or who has not been granted the State old-age pension (including before term);
• who has not been accepted for enrolment in a full-time elementary or secondary education programme;
• who does not perform commercial activities or for whom commercial activities have been suspended in accordance with laws and regulations;
• who is not at a place of imprisonment, except for serving the punishment of deprivation of liberty in an open prison or a long-term social care and social rehabilitation institution in which the services are fully or partially financed from the State or local government budget.

From 18 April 2020 until 31 December 2021 the right to unemployed person status has also a person who has lost employee’s status and on the day when this status was lost was:

• an owner of a micro-enterprise (as determined by the Micro-enterprise tax law) whose micro-enterprise does not have income (including after gaining of unemployment status);
• self-employed (except an individual who performs economic activity and pays for this licence fee) who does not have income (including after gaining of unemployment status). 

On 7 November 2019 the law was supplemented by a new Section 15.1 on the status of a persons who are subject to the risk of unemployment:

• an employed person or self-employed person who has reached 50 years of age;
• an employed person or self-employed person who has a level of education or skills that is insufficient for the requirements of the labour market;
• an employed person or self-employed person to whom disability or predictable disability has been determined, or a person after temporary incapacity for work that has lasted at least four consecutive months;
• an employed person whose place of residence is located in the territory of low economic activity;
• a person who is not working and is obtaining basic education or secondary education irrespective of the type of education;
• a person with no work experience;
• a person who has been given a notice of termination of the employment contract;
• a person who serves the sentence at a place of imprisonment.