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The Long-Run Effects of Unemployment Monitoring and Work-Search Programs: Some Experimental Evidence from the U.K

Author

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  • Peter Dolton;

    (University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne)

  • Donal O'Neill

Abstract

In this paper we examine the long-term effects of the Restart unemployment program introduced in the U.K. in 1987. The program was aimed at the long-term unemployed and involved a combination of tighter monitoring of benefit eligibility rules and increased job search assistance. We compare employment behaviour over a five-year period for members of a treatment group who participated in the scheme with those of a randomly chosen control group for whom participation was delayed. We find that those who participated in Restart had significantly shorter unemployment durations than those excluded from the program. However, our results also show that the long-run effect of postponing participation in the scheme differs by gender. While there is little evidence of a long-term benefit for women in our sample, the unemployment rate among males in the treatment group was six percentage points lower than that for males in the control group five years after the initial experiment.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Dolton; & Donal O'Neill, 1997. "The Long-Run Effects of Unemployment Monitoring and Work-Search Programs: Some Experimental Evidence from the U.K," Economics Department Working Paper Series n710897, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    • Handle: RePEc:may:mayecw:n710897
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bukowski, Maciej & Lewandowski, Piotr & Koloch, Grzegorz & Baranowska, Anna & Magda, Iga & Szydlowski, Arkadiusz & Bober, Magda & Bieliński, Jacek & Zawistowski, Julian & Sarzalska, Malgorzata, 2008. "Employment in Poland 2007: Security on flexible labour market," MPRA Paper 14284, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Denis Conniffe & Donal O'Neill, 2011. "Efficient Probit Estimation with Partially Missing Covariates," Advances in Econometrics, in: Missing Data Methods: Cross-sectional Methods and Applications, pages 209-245, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    3. van den Berg, Gerard J & Lindeboom, Maarten & Dolton, Peter J, 2004. "Survey non-response and unemployment duration," Working Paper Series 2004:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Annette Bergemann & Gerard J. Van Den Berg, 2008. "Active Labor Market Policy Effects for Women in Europe - A Survey," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 91-92, pages 385-408.
    5. 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.
    6. Denis Conniffe & Donal O’Neill, 2008. "An Efficient Estimator for Dealing with Missing Data on Explanatory Variables in a Probit Choice Model," Economics Department Working Paper Series n1960908.pdf, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    unemployment;

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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