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Differential effects of Swedish active labour market programmes for unemployed adults during the 1990s

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Author Info
Sianesi, Barbara () (IFAU - Insitute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation)

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Abstract

The paper evaluates the differential performance of the six main types of Swedish programmes that were available to adult unemployed workers entitled to unemployment benefits in the 1990s: labour market training, workplace introduction, work experience placement, relief work, trainee replacement and employment subsidies. On the basis of a large and particularly rich administrative dataset, propensity score multiple-treatment matching methods are applied to investigate the differential performance of the programmes both relative to one another and vis-à-vis more intense job search in open unemployment. Outcomes being assessed are short- and long-term employment rates as well as the probability of collecting unemployment benefits over time. Compared to waiting longer in open unemployment, all the programmes initially reduce their participants’ employment probability in the short term (lock-in effect). Positive findings on more long term employment prospects are confined to job subsidies alone. Participation in trainee replacement makes no difference to deputies’ subsequent labour market outcomes. Individuals joining any of the remaining programmes later display either the same (workplace introduction) or lower employment rates coupled with a higher benefit collection probability than if they had searched further as openly unemployed. A likely factor behind these disappointing results is the use of such types of programmes simply as a way to re-qualify for unemployment benefits. As to the pair-wise comparison of the six programmes, the central finding is again that the more similar a programme is to a regular job, the higher the programme’s benefits to its participants, with employment subsidies by far the best performer, followed by trainee replacement. Several macroeconomic studies have however documented large and negative displacement and dead-weight effects for exactly these types of programme, which highlights the difficult trade-off faced by labour market policy.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation in its series Working Paper Series with number 2002:5.

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Length: 52 pages
Date of creation: 15 Feb 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2002_005

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Postal: Labour Market Policy Evaluation, P O Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Phone: (+46) 18 - 471 70 70
Fax: (+46) 18 - 471 70 71
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Related research
Keywords: active labour market programmes; evaluation; multiple-treatment matching; treatment effects;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods
J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy
J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Public Policy

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Guido W. Imbens, 1999. "The Role of the Propensity Score in Estimating Dose-Response Functions," NBER Technical Working Papers 0237, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ridder, G, 1986. "An Event History Approach to the Evaluation of Training, Recruitment and Employment Programmes," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 1(2), pages 109-26, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Johansson, Per & Martinson, Sara, 2000. "The effect of increased employer contacts within a labour market training program," Working Paper Series 2000:10, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  4. Calmfors, Lars & Forslund, Anders & Hemström, Maria, 2002. "Does active labour market policy work? Lessons from the Swedish experiences," Working Paper Series 2002:4, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Frölich, Markus & Heshmati, Almas & Lechner, Michael, 2000. "A Microeconometric Evaluation of Rehabilitation of Long-term Sickness in Sweden," Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 373, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 03 Apr 2000.
    Other versions:
  6. Skedinger, Per & Lundin, Martin, 2000. "Decentralisation of Active Labour Market Policy: The Case of Swedish Local Employment Service Committees," Working Paper Series 537, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Larsson, L., 2000. "Evaluation of Swedish Youth Labour Market Programmes," Papers 2000:6, Uppsala - Working Paper Series.
  8. Heckman, James J. & Robb, Richard Jr., 1985. "Alternative methods for evaluating the impact of interventions : An overview," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1-2), pages 239-267. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Gerfin, Michael & Lechner, Michael, 2000. "Microeconometric Evaluation of the Active Labour Market Policy in Switzerland," IZA Discussion Papers 154, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Larsson, Laura, 2000. "Evaluation of Swedish youth labour market programmes," Working Paper Series 2000:1, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  11. Martin, John P. & Grubb, David, 2001. "What works and for whom: a review of OECD countries' experiences with active labour market policies," Working Paper Series 2001:14, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  12. Heckman, James J & Ichimura, Hidehiko & Todd, Petra, 1998. "Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 65(2), pages 261-94, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Heckman, James J & Ichimura, Hidehiko & Todd, Petra E, 1997. "Matching as an Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 64(4), pages 605-54, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Melkersson, Maria, 1999. "Policy programmes only for a few? Participation in labour market programmes among Swedish disabled workers," Working Paper Series 1999:1, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  15. Layard, R. & Nickell, S., . "Layard-Nickell," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics layardnickell, Boston College Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 1998. "Causal Effects in Non-Experimental Studies: Re-Evaluating the Evaluation of Training Programs," NBER Working Papers 6586, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Larsson, Laura, 2000. "Evaluation of Swedish Youth Labour Market Programmes," Working Paper Series 2000:6, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  18. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. 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!]
  20. James Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 1998. "Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data," NBER Working Papers 6699, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. Ham, John C & LaLonde, Robert J, 1996. "The Effect of Sample Selection and Initial Conditions in Duration Models: Evidence from Experimental Data on Training," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 175-205, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Melkersson, Maria, 1999. "Unemployment duration and heterogenous search behavior among Swedish disabled workers," Working Paper Series 1999:5, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(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. Carling, Kenneth & Larsson, Laura, 2002. "Does early intervention help the unemployed youth?," Working Paper Series 2002:10, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  2. Paolo, NATICHIONI, 2008. "Short and long term evaluations of Public Employment Services in Italy," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2008030, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques. [Downloadable!]
  3. Forslund, Anders & Johansson, Per & Lindqvist, Linus, 2004. "Employment subsidies - A fast lane from unemployment to work?," Working Paper Series 2004:18, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  4. Tito Boeri, 2005. "An Activating Social Security System," De Economist, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 375-397, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Osikominu, Aderonke & Orlyanskaya, Olga & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Waller, Marie, 2008. "Déj? Vu? Short-Term Training in Germany 1980-1992 and 2000-2003," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-038, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Lindgren, Urban & Westerlund, Olle, 2003. "Labour market programmes and geographical mobility: migration and commuting among programme participants and openly unemployed," Working Paper Series 2003:6, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  7. Thomas Andrén & Daniela Andrén, 2006. "Assessing the employment effects of vocational training using a one-factor model," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(21), pages 2469-2486, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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