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What is the Value Added by Caseworkers?

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Author Info
Lechner, Michael
Smith, Jeffrey

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Abstract

We investigate the allocation of unemployed individuals to different subprograms within Swiss active labour market policy by the caseworkers at local employment offices in Switzerland in 1998. We are particularly interested in whether the caseworkers allocate the unemployed to services in ways that will maximize the program-induced changes in their employment probabilities. Our econometric analysis uses unusually informative data originating from administrative unemployment and social security records. For the estimation we apply matching estimators adapted to the case of multiple programmes. The number of observations in this database is sufficiently high to allow for this nonparametric analysis to be conducted in narrowly defined subgroups. Our results indicate that Swiss caseworkers do not do a very good job of allocating their unemployed clients to the subprograms so as to maximize their subsequent employment prospects. Our findings suggest one of three possible conclusions. First, case-workers may be trying to solve the problem of allocating the unemployed to maximize their subsequent employment, but may lack the skills or knowledge to do this. Second, caseworkers may have a goal other than efficiency, such as allocating the most expensive services to the least well-off clients, that is not explicit in the law regulating active labour market policies. Third, the distortions of the local decision process could be due to federal authorities imposing strict minimum participation requirements for the various programs at the regional level.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 3825.

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Date of creation: Mar 2003
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3825

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Keywords: active labour market policy caseworkers statistical profiling statistical treatment rule targeting

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Public Policy

References listed on IDEAS
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  4. Michael Lechner, 2005. "Some practical issues in the evaluation of heterogeneous labour market programmes by matching methods," Labor and Demography 0505006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Charles F. Manski, 2001. "Designing Programs for Heterogeneous Populations: The Value of Covariate Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 103-106, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Michael Gerfin & Michael Lechner, 2002. "A Microeconometric Evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy in Switzerland," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 854-893, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Program Heterogeneity And Propensity Score Matching: An Application To The Evaluation Of Active Labor Market Policies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 205-220, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 2003. "Does Matching Overcome Lalonde's Critique of Nonexperimental Estimators?," University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project Working Papers 20035, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Rajeev Dehejia, 1999. "Program Evaluation as a Decision Problem," NBER Working Papers 6954, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Lechner, Michael, 1999. "Earnings and Employment Effects of Continuous Off-the-Job Training in East Germany after Unification," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(1), pages 74-90, January.
  12. Geweke, John & Keane, Michael P & Runkle, David, 1994. "Alternative Computational Approaches to Inference in the Multinomial Probit Model," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(4), pages 609-32, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Dan A. Black & Jeffrey A. Smith & Mark C. Berger & Brett J. Noel, 2003. "Is the Threat of Reemployment Services More Effective than the Services Themselves? Evidence from Random Assignment in the UI System," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1313-1327, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Sianesi, Barbara, 2001. "An evaluation of the active labour market programmes in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2001:5, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  15. Mark C. Berger & Dan Black & Jeffrey Smith, 2000. "Evaluating Profiling as a Means of Allocating Government Services," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 200018, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. Michael Lechner, 1999. "Identification and Estimation of Causal Effects of Multiple Treatments Under the Conditional Independence Assumption," IZA Discussion Papers 91, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  17. Bera, Anil K & Jarque, Carlos M & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1984. "Testing the Normality Assumption in Limited Dependent Variable Models," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 25(3), pages 563-78, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2006. "Active labour market policy in East Germany : waiting for the economy to take off," IAB Discussion Paper 200620, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2006. "Exploiting regional treatment intensity for the evaluation of labour market policies," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2006 2006-12, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner & Heidi Steiger, 2003. "Statistically Assisted Programme Selection - International Experiences and Potential Benefits for Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 139(III), pages 311-331, September. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Michael Rosholm & Jonas Staghøj & Michael Svarer, 2007. "A Statistical Programme Assignment Model," Economics Working Papers 2007-16, School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Fröhlich, Markus & Lechner, Michael, 2004. "Regional Treatment Intensity as an Instrument for the Evaluation of Labour Market Policies," CEPR Discussion Papers 4304, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Weber, Andrea, 2008. "Individual Incentives in Program Participation: Splitting up the Process in Assignment and Enrollment," IZA Discussion Papers 3404, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  7. Brian Krogh Graversen & Peter Jensen, 2006. "A Reappraisal of the Virtues of Private Sector Employment Programmes," IZA Discussion Papers 2230, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  8. Caliendo, Marco & Hujer, Reinhard & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2005. "Identifying Effect Heterogeneity to Improve the Effiency of Job Creation Schemes in Germany?," ZEW Discussion Papers 05-21, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Markus Frölich, 2006. "Statistical Treatment Choice: An Application to Active Labour Market Programmes," IZA Discussion Papers 2187, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  10. Stefanie Behncke & Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2007. "Targeting Labour Market Programmes: Results from a Randomized Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 3085, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  11. Miana Plesca & Jeffrey Smith, 2007. "Evaluating multi-treatment programs: theory and evidence from the U.S. Job Training Partnership Act experiment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 491-528, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Hujer, Reinhard & Thomsen, Stephan L. & Zeiss, Christopher, 2004. "The Effects of Vocational Training Programmes on the Duration of Unemployment in Eastern Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 1117, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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