IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/labeco/v94y2025ics0927537125000442.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employment effects of a social and labour inclusion programme

Author

Listed:
  • Blanchard, Pablo
  • Brum, Matias
  • Carrasco, Paula
  • Parada, Cecilia
  • Perazzo, Ivone

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the impacts of a social and labour inclusion programme, Uruguay Trabaja (UT) on employment and job quality through objective and subjective e measures. Using administrative data and a custom survey, we estimate the programme’s causal effects by exploiting the random assignment of the beneficiaries. Our findings suggest that participants in UT are more likely to secure formal employment and earn higher formal wages compared to non-participants, with indications of these effects enduring over time. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that UT contributes to increased labour market participation, and satisfaction across various dimensions of employment, overall job satisfaction, and general life satisfaction in the medium term. We also investigate the significance of two channels in driving the observed outcomes: the means of accessing employment and training opportunities. This study underscores the importance of implementing comprehensive programmes for vulnerable populations and emphasizes the value of considering medium-term impacts when assessing programme effectiveness.

Suggested Citation

  • Blanchard, Pablo & Brum, Matias & Carrasco, Paula & Parada, Cecilia & Perazzo, Ivone, 2025. "Employment effects of a social and labour inclusion programme," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:94:y:2025:i:c:s0927537125000442
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102717
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537125000442
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102717?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Verónica Escudero & Jochen Kluve & Elva López Mourelo & Clemente Pignatti, 2019. "Active Labour Market Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2644-2661, December.
    2. David McKenzie, 2017. "How Effective Are Active Labor Market Policies in Developing Countries? A Critical Review of Recent Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 127-154.
    3. Stephanie Riegg Cellini & Fernando Ferreira & Jesse Rothstein, 2010. "The Value of School Facility Investments: Evidence from a Dynamic Regression Discontinuity Design," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(1), pages 215-261.
    4. Clément de Chaisemartin & Luc Behaghel, 2020. "Estimating the Effect of Treatments Allocated by Randomized Waiting Lists," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(4), pages 1453-1477, July.
    5. Juan José Díaz & David Rosas-Shady, 2016. "Impact Evaluation of the Job Youth Training Program Projoven," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 94116, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Thomas Le Barbanchon & Diego Ubfal & Federico Araya, 2023. "The Effects of Working While in School: Evidence from Employment Lotteries," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 383-410, January.
    7. Andrew E. Clark, 2015. "What makes a good job? Job quality and job satisfaction," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 215-215, December.
    8. Cecchini, Simone & Abramo, Laís & Morales, Beatriz, 2019. "Programas sociales, superación de la pobreza e inclusión laboral: aprendizajes desde América Latina y el Caribe," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 44602 edited by Cepal.
    9. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2018. "What Works? A Meta Analysis of Recent Active Labor Market Program Evaluations," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 894-931.
    10. David Card & Pablo Ibarrarán & Ferdinando Regalia & David Rosas-Shady & Yuri Soares, 2011. "The Labor Market Impacts of Youth Training in the Dominican Republic," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 267-300.
    11. Alexander Gelber & Adam Isen & Judd B. Kessler, 2016. "The Effects of Youth Employment: Evidence from New York City Lotteries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(1), pages 423-460.
    12. Felipe Lobel, 2022. "The Unequal Incidence of Payroll Taxes with Imperfect Competition: Theory and Evidence," Papers 2210.15776, arXiv.org.
    13. Das,Maitreyi B & Das,Maitreyi B, 2016. "Social Inclusion in macro-level diagnostics : reflecting on the World Bank Group's early systematic country diagnostics," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7713, The World Bank.
    14. Bergolo, M. & Cruces, G., 2021. "The anatomy of behavioral responses to social assistance when informal employment is high," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    15. Paula Carrasco & Alejandro Cichevski & Ivone Perazzo, 2018. "Evolución reciente de las principales variables del mercado laboral uruguayo," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 18-09, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    16. Orazio Attanasio & Arlen Guarín & Carlos Medina & Costas Meghir, 2017. "Vocational Training for Disadvantaged Youth in Colombia: A Long-Term Follow-Up," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 131-143, April.
    17. Marloes Lammers & Lucy Kok, 2021. "Are active labor market policies (cost-)effective in the long run? Evidence from the Netherlands," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1719-1746, April.
    18. Dean, Andrés & Amarante, Verónica, 2017. "Estudio sobre el subsidio por enfermedad en el Uruguay," Estudios y Perspectivas – Oficina de la CEPAL en Montevideo 42506, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    19. Díaz, Juan José & Rosas-Shady, David, 2016. "Impact Evaluation of the Job Youth Training Program Projoven," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 7615, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Nancy Kracke & Christina Klug, 2021. "Social Capital and Its Effect on Labour Market (Mis)match: Migrants’ Overqualification in Germany," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1573-1598, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pablo Blanchard & Matías Brum & Paula Carrasco & Cecilia Parada & Ivone Perazzo, 2023. "Employment effects of a social and labor inclusion program," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 23-02, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    2. Doerr, Annabelle & Novella, Rafael, 2024. "The long-term effects of job training on labor market and skills outcomes in Chile," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Bhaskar Chakravorty & Arjun S. Bedi, 2019. "Skills Training and Employment Outcomes in Rural Bihar," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 62(2), pages 173-199, June.
    4. Da Mata, Daniel & Oliveira, Rodrigo & Silva, Diana, 2025. "Who benefits from job training programs? Evidence from a high-dosage program in Brazil," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    5. Santiago Caicedo & Miguel Espinosa & Arthur Seibold, 2022. "Unwilling to Train?—Firm Responses to the Colombian Apprenticeship Regulation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(2), pages 507-550, March.
    6. David McKenzie, 2017. "How Effective Are Active Labor Market Policies in Developing Countries? A Critical Review of Recent Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 127-154.
    7. Livia Alfonsi & Oriana Bandiera & Vittorio Bassi & Robin Burgess & Imran Rasul & Munshi Sulaiman & Anna Vitali, 2020. "Tackling Youth Unemployment: Evidence From a Labor Market Experiment in Uganda," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2369-2414, November.
    8. Das, Narayan, 2021. "Training the disadvantaged youth and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Chakravarty, Shubha & Lundberg, Mattias & Nikolov, Plamen & Zenker, Juliane, 2019. "Vocational training programs and youth labor market outcomes: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 71-110.
    10. Thomas Le Barbanchon & Diego Ubfal & Federico Araya, 2023. "The Effects of Working While in School: Evidence from Employment Lotteries," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 383-410, January.
    11. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Hasan, Syed & Sharma, Uttam, 2024. "The Role of Trainee Selection in the Effectiveness of Vocational Training: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Nepal," IZA Discussion Papers 16705, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Le Barbanchon, Thomas & Ubfal, Diego & Araya, Federico, 2020. "The Effects of Working While in School: Evidence from Uruguayan Lotteries," IZA Discussion Papers 13929, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. André Dumas Tsambou & Lionie Mafang & Thierno Malick Diallo & Benjamin Fomba Kamga, 2024. "Impact of job training program on employment outcomes in Senegal," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 4(8), pages 1-33, August.
    14. Banerjee, Abhijit V. & Chiplunkar, Gaurav, 2024. "How important are matching frictions in the labor market? Experimental & non-experimental evidence from a large Indian firm," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    15. Anna Aizer & Shari Eli & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Keyoung Lee, 2020. "Do Youth Employment Programs Work? Evidence from the New Deal," NBER Working Papers 27103, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Chatri, Abdellatif & Hadef, Khadija & Samoudi, Naima, 2021. "Micro-econometric evaluation of subsidized employment in morocco: the case of the "Idmaj" program," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-17.
    17. Dix-Carneiro, Rafael & Kovak, Brian K., 2023. "Globalization and Inequality in Latin America," IZA Discussion Papers 16363, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Theodoropoulos, Nikolaos & Voucharas, Georgios, 2023. "Firm Closures and Labor Market Policies in Europe: Evidence from Retrospective Longitudinal Data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1288, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    19. Jakob Engel & Deeksha Kokas & Gladys Lopez-Acevedo & Maryla Maliszewska, 2021. "The Distributional Impacts of Trade," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 35552, April.
    20. André D. Tsambou & Thierno Malick Diallo & Benjamin Fomba Kamga & Simplice A. Asongu, 2024. "Impact of employment support programs on the quality of youth employment: Evidence from Senegal's internship program," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 4606-4632, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:94:y:2025:i:c:s0927537125000442. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/labeco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.