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Can income support for part-time workers serve as a stepping-stone to regular jobs? An application to young long-term unemployed women

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  • Bart Cockx
  • Christian Goebel
  • Stéphane Robin

Abstract

This article investigates whether income support for low-paid part-time workers in Belgium increases the transition from unemployment to non-subsidised, ‘regular’ employment. Our analysis uses a sample of long-term unemployed young women. Observing their labour market histories from 1998 to 2001, we implement the ‘timing of events’ method to identify the treatment effect. Our results suggest that participation in the policy has a significantly positive effect on the transition to regular employment. Participation reduced the survivor rate in unemployment by 27% points 1 year after the start of the programme. The time spent in the programme did not affect the transition to regular employment. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Bart Cockx & Christian Goebel & Stéphane Robin, 2013. "Can income support for part-time workers serve as a stepping-stone to regular jobs? An application to young long-term unemployed women," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 189-229, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:44:y:2013:i:1:p:189-229
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-010-0357-8
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kalin, Salla & Kyyrä, Tomi & Matikka, Tuomas, 2023. "Combining Part-time Work and Social Benefits: Empirical Evidence from Finland," Working Papers 159, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Tomi Kyyrä & Hanna Pesola, 2020. "The Effects of UI Benefits on Unemployment and Subsequent Outcomes: Evidence from a Kinked Benefit Rule," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 1135-1160, October.
    4. Baert, Stijn & Cockx, Bart & Verhaest, Dieter, 2013. "Overeducation at the start of the career: Stepping stone or trap?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 123-140.
    5. Tito Boeri & Pierre Cahuc, 2022. "Labor Market Insurance Policies in the XXI Century," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03878719, HAL.
    6. Marco Caliendo & Ricarda Schmidl, 2016. "Youth unemployment and active labor market policies in Europe," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-30, December.
    7. Dorsett, Richard, 2014. "The effect of temporary in-work support on employment retention: Evidence from a field experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 61-71.
    8. Anna Godøy & Knut Røed, 2016. "Unemployment Insurance and Underemployment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 30(2), pages 158-179, June.
    9. Susanne Ek Spector, 2022. "Should unemployment insurance cover partial unemployment?," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 199-199, June.
    10. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Uhlendorff, Arne, 2016. "Earnings exemptions for unemployed workers: The relationship between marginal employment, unemployment duration and job quality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 177-193.
    11. Umut Oguzoglu, 2016. "Disability and Multi-State Labour Force Choices with State Dependence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 92(296), pages 28-46, March.
    12. Kyyrä, Tomi & Pesola, Hanna & Rissanen, Aarne, 2017. "Unemployment Insurance in Finland: A Review of Recent Changes and Empirical Evidence on Behavioral Responses," Research Reports 184, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Mosthaf, Alexander & Schank, Thorsten & Schwarz, Stefan, 2021. "Do Supplementary Jobs for Welfare Recipients Increase the Chance of Welfare Exit? Evidence from Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 14268, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Joel Karlsson & Jonas Månsson, 2014. "Getting a full-time job as a part-time unemployed: How much does spatial context matter?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 179-195, August.
    15. Rune Lesner, 2015. "Does labor market history matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1327-1364, June.
    16. Auray, Stéphane & Lepage-Saucier, Nicolas, 2021. "Stepping-stone effect of atypical jobs: Could the least employable reap the most benefits?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Active labour market policies; Evaluation; Mixed proportional Hazard models; J64; J68; C41;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy
    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies

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