Too Bad to Benefit? Effect Heterogeneity of Public Training Programs
Abstract
This study analyzes the treatment effects of public training programs for the unemployed in Germany. Based on propensity score matching methods we extend the picture that has been sketched in previous studies by estimating treatment effects of medium-term programs for different sub-groups with respect to vocational education and age. Our results indicate that program participation has a positive impact on employment probabilities for all sub-groups. Participants also seem to find more often higher paid jobs than non-participants. However, we find only little evidence for the presence of heterogeneous treatment effects, and the magnitude of the differences is quite small. Our results are thus – at least in part – conflicting with the strategy to increasingly provide training to individuals with better employment prospects.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3240.Length: 46 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3240
Contact details of provider:
Postal: IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Phone: +49 228 3894 223
Fax: +49 228 3894 180
Web page: http://www.iza.org
Order Information:
Postal: IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany
Email:
Related research
Keywords: active labor market policy; effect heterogeneity; program evaluation; public training programs; matching;Other versions of this item:
- Ulf Rinne & Marc Schneider & Arne Uhlendorff, 2011. "Do the skilled and prime-aged unemployed benefit more from training? Effect heterogeneity of public training programmes in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 43(25), pages 3465-3494.
- Ulf Rinne & Marc Schneider & Arne Uhlendorff, 2007. "Too Bad to Benefit?: Effect Heterogeneity of Public Training Programs," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 749, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
- J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
- J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Public Policy
- H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2008-01-12 (All new papers)
- NEP-LAB-2008-01-12 (Labour Economics)
References
References listed on IDEASPlease 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.:
- Conny Wunsch & Michael Lechner, 2007.
"What Did All the Money Do? On the General Ineffectiveness of Recent West German Labour Market Programmes,"
University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007
2007-19, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
- Conny Wunsch & Michael Lechner, 2008. "What Did All the Money Do? On the General Ineffectiveness of Recent West German Labour Market Programmes," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 134-174, 02.
- Wunsch, Conny & Lechner, Michael, 2007. "What Did All the Money Do? On the General Ineffectiveness of Recent West German Labour Market Programmes," IZA Discussion Papers 2800, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Lechner, Michael & Wunsch, Conny, 2007. "What Did All the Money Do? On the General Ineffectiveness of Recent West German Labour Market Programmes," CEPR Discussion Papers 6306, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 2003.
"Does Matching Overcome Lalonde's Critique of Nonexperimental Estimators?,"
University of Western Ontario, CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity Working Papers
20035, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity.
- A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
- Werner Eichhorst & Klaus F. Zimmermann, 2007.
"And Then There Were Four...How Many (and Which) Measures of Active Labor Market Policy Do We Still Need?,"
Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik),
Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 53(3), pages 243-272.
- Eichhorst, Werner & Zimmermann, Klaus F, 2007. "And Then There Were Four... How Many (and Which) Measures of Active Labour Market Policy Do We Still Need?," CEPR Discussion Papers 6246, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- 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 Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
- Lechner, Michael & Melly, Blaise, 2007.
"Earnings Effects of Training Programs,"
IZA Discussion Papers
2926, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Lechner, Michael & Melly, Blaise, 2007. "Earnings Effects of Training Programs," CEPR Discussion Papers 6400, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Michael Lechner & Blaise Melly, 2007. "Earnings Effects of Training Programs," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007 2007-28, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
- van Ours, Jan C, 2002.
"The Locking-in Effect of Subsidized Jobs,"
CEPR Discussion Papers
3489, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- van Ours, Jan C., 2004. "The locking-in effect of subsidized jobs," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 37-55, March.
- van Ours, Jan C., 2002. "The Locking-in Effect of Subsidized Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 527, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Jan C. van Ours, 2002. "The Locking-in Effect of Subsidized Jobs," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 474, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
- Völter, Robert & Osikominu, Aderonke & Fitzenberger, Bernd, 2007.
"Get Training or Wait? Long-Run Employment Effects of Training Programs for the Unemployed in West Germany,"
ZEW Discussion Papers
06-39 [rev.], ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
- Bernd FITZENBERGER & Aderonke OSIKOMINU & Robert VÖLTER, 2008. "Get Training or Wait? Long-Run Employment Effects of Training Programs for the Unemployed in West Germany," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ENSAE, issue 91-92, pages 321-355.
- Fitzenberger, Bernd & Osikominu, Aderonke & Völter, Robert, 2006. "Get Training or Wait? Long-Run Employment Effects of Training Programs for the Unemployed in West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 2121, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Osikominu, Aderonke & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Völter, Robert, 2006. "Get Training or Wait? Long-Run Employment Effects of Training Programs for the Unemployed in West Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-39, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
- Fitzenberger, Bernd & Osikominu, Aderonke & Völter, Robert, 2006. "Get training or wait? : long-run employment effects of training programs for the unemployed in West Germany," IAB Discussion Paper 200617, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Peter R. Mueser & Kenneth Troske & Alexey Gorislavsky, 2003.
"Using State Administrative Data to Measure Program Performance,"
Working Papers
0309, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
- Peter R. Mueser & Kenneth R. Troske & Alexey Gorislavsky, 2007. "Using State Administrative Data to Measure Program Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(4), pages 761-783, November.
- Mueser, Peter R. & Troske, Kenneth & Gorislavsky, Alexey, 2003. "Using State Administrative Data to Measure Program Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 786, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Peter R. Mueser & Kenneth R. Troske & Alexey Gorislavsky, 2006. "Using State Administrative Data to Measure Program Performance," Working Papers 0702, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
- Imbens, Guido & Abadie, Alberto, 2008.
"On the Failure of the Bootstrap for Matching Estimators,"
Scholarly Articles
3043415, Harvard University Department of Economics.
- Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2008. "On the Failure of the Bootstrap for Matching Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 76(6), pages 1537-1557, November.
- Alberto Abadie & Guido W. Imbens, 2006. "On the Failure of the Bootstrap for Matching Estimators," NBER Technical Working Papers 0325, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- 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.
- Ours, J.C. van, 2004. "The locking-in effect of subsidized jobs," Open Access publications from Tilburg University urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-140882, Tilburg University.
- Reinhard Hujer & Stephan Thomsen & Christopher Zeiss, 2006.
"The effects of vocational training programmes on the duration of unemployment in Eastern Germany,"
AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis,
Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 299-321, June.
- Hujer, Reinhard & Thomsen, Stephan Lothar & 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).
- Lechner, Michael & Miquel, Ruth & Wunsch, Conny, 2005.
"The curse and blessing of training the unemployed in a changing economy : the case of East Germany after unification,"
IAB Discussion Paper
200514, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2007. "The Curse and Blessing of Training the Unemployed in a Changing Economy: The Case of East Germany After Unification," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8, pages 468-509, November.
- Lechner, Michael & Miquel, Ruth & Wunsch, Conny, 2005. "The Curse and Blessing of Training the Unemployed in a Changing Economy: The Case of East Germany After Unification," IZA Discussion Papers 1684, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2005. "The Curse and Blessing of Training the Unemployed in a Changing Economy: The Case of East Germany after Unification," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2005 2005-15, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
- Lechner, Michael & Miquel, Ruth & Wunsch, Conny, 2005. "The Curse and Blessing of Training the Unemployed in a Changing Economy: the Case of East Germany after Unification," CEPR Discussion Papers 5171, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
- Marco Caliendo & Viktor Steiner, 2005. "Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland: Bestandsaufnahme und Bewertung der mikroökonomischen Evaluationsergebnisse," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 515, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
- Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2005.
"Some Practical Guidance for the Implementation of Propensity Score Matching,"
Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin
485, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
- Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, 02.
- Caliendo, Marco & Kopeinig, Sabine, 2005. "Some Practical Guidance for the Implementation of Propensity Score Matching," IZA Discussion Papers 1588, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Biewen, Martin & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Osikominu, Aderonke & Waller, Marie, 2007.
"Which Program for Whom? Evidence on the Comparative Effectiveness of Public Sponsored Training Programs in Germany,"
IZA Discussion Papers
2885, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Biewen, Martin & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Osikominu, Aderonke & Waller, Marie, 2007. "Which Program for Whom? Evidence on the Comparative Effectiveness of Public Sponsored Training Programs in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-042, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- Brück-Klingberg, Andrea & Burkert, Carola & Garloff, Alfred & Seibert, Holger & Wapler, Rüdiger, 2011. "Does higher education help immigrants find a job? : A survival analysis," IAB Discussion Paper 201106, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Bernhard, Sarah & Hohmeyer, Katrin & Jozwiak, Eva & Koch, Susanne & Kruppe, Thomas & Stephan, Gesine & Wolff, Joachim, 2008. "Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland und ihre Wirkungen," IAB-Forschungsbericht 200802, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Krause, Annabelle & Rinne, Ulf & Schüller, Simone, 2012.
"Kick It Like Özil? Decomposing the Native-Migrant Education Gap,"
IZA Discussion Papers
6696, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Annabelle Krause & Ulf Rinne & Simone Schüller, 2012. "Kick It Like Özil?: Decomposing the Native-Migrant Education Gap," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 508, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
- Caliendo, Marco & Hogenacker, Jens, 2012.
"The German Labor Market after the Great Recession: Successful Reforms and Future Challenges,"
IZA Discussion Papers
6810, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Marco Caliendo & Jens Hogenacker, 2012. "The German labor market after the Great Recession: successful reforms and future challenges," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 1-24, December.
- Begoña Cueto & Luis Toharia & Carlos García Serrano & Joan A. Alujas, 2010. "Los efectos de la formación ocupacional: ¿Importa la duración de las acciones?," Hacienda Pública Española, IEF, vol. 195(4), pages 9-36, december.
- Stephan, Gesine & Pahnke, André, 2008. "The Relative Effectiveness of Selected Active Labour Market Programmes and the Common Support Problem," IZA Discussion Papers 3767, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
- Andersen, Signe Hald, 2011. "Exiting unemployment: How do program effects depend on individual coping strategies?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 248-258, March.
- Stephan, Gesine & Zickert, Kathi, 2008. "Participation of unemployment benefit recipients in active labor market programs : before and after the German labor market reforms," IAB Discussion Paper 200815, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Waller, Marie, 2008. "Further training for the unemployed : what can we learn about dropouts from administrative data?," FDZ Methodenreport 200804_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
- Kai Sebastian Meinke, 2010. "Employment and Continuing Vocational Training (CVT) in the German Microcensus of the Year 2003," Kiel Working Papers 1643, Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
- Bernhard, Sarah & Kruppe, Thomas, 2012. "Effectiveness of further vocational training in Germany : empirical findings for persons receiving means-tested unemployment benefit," IAB Discussion Paper 201210, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3240For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Mark Fallak).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

