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Getting the unemployed back to work: the role of targeted wage subsidies

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  • Brian Bell
  • Richard Blundell

    () (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • John Van Reenen

Abstract

This paper examines alternative approaches to wage subsidy programmes. It does this in the context of a recent active labour market reform for the young unemployed in Britain. This ÓŽew DealÔ reform and the characteristics of the target group are examined in detail. We discuss theoretical considerations, survey the existing empirical evidence and propose two strategies for evaluation. The first suggests an expost Ñ´rend adjusted diÄ¥rence in diÄ¥rence' estimator. The second, relates to a model based ex-ante evaluation. We present the conditions for each to provide a reliable evaluation and Å´ some of the crucial parameters using data from the British Labour Force Survey. We stress that the success of this type of labour market programmes hinge on dynamic aspects of the youth labour market, in particular the pay-off to experience and training.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for Fiscal Studies in its series IFS Working Papers with number W99/12.

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Length: 53 pp.
Date of creation: Apr 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:99/12

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  25. Gary Burtless, 1985. "Are targeted wage subsidies harmful? Evidence from a wage voucher experiment," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 39(1), pages 105-114, October.
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