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Hiring subsidies for people with disabilities: Do they work?

Author

Listed:
  • Sergi Jiménez-Martín
  • Arnau Juanmarti Mestres
  • Judit Vall-Castello

Abstract

This article evaluates the effectiveness of hiring subsidies targeted to people with disabilities. By exploiting the timing of implementation among the different Spanish regions of a subsidy scheme implemented in Spain during the period 1990-2014, we employ a differencesin- differences approach to estimate the impact of the scheme on the probability of DI beneficiaries of transiting to employment and on the propensity of individuals of entering the DI program. Our results show that the introduction of the subsidy scheme is in general ineffective at incentivizing transitions to employment, and in some cases it is associated with an increased propensity of transiting to DI. Furthermore, we show that an employment protection component incorporated to the subsidy scheme, consisting in the obligation for the employer to maintain the subsidized worker in employment, is associated with less transitions to permanent employment, more transitions to temporary employment and more transitions to DI, suggesting that these type of employment protection measures can have undesired effects for people with disabilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Arnau Juanmarti Mestres & Judit Vall-Castello, 2017. "Hiring subsidies for people with disabilities: Do they work?," Working Papers 967, Barcelona School of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:bge:wpaper:967
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    disability; employment subsidies; labor market transitions; disability insurance; differences-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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