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Waiting longer before claiming, and activating youth: no point?

Author

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  • Bart Cockx
  • Eva Van Belle

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of two policies (an extension of the waiting period before entitlement to unemployment insurance (UI) and an intensification of counselling) targeted at unemployed school-leavers in Belgium on unemployment duration and on the quality of work. Design/methodology/approach - The length of both policies is sharply determined by two distinct age thresholds. These thresholds are exploited to estimate the impact within a regression discontinuity design using a large administrative data set of all recent labour market entrants. Findings - The longer waiting period does not significantly impact job finding while the Youth Work Plan does increase the job-finding rate eight months after the onset of the programme. The accepted wage is unaffected, but both policies lower the number of working days resulting in lower earnings. This effect is especially prevalent for youth from low-income households. Research limitations/implications - For both policies, participation was delineated by an age cut-off which was only four months apart. This sizeably reduced the width of the age window to detect a corresponding discontinuity in behaviour and hereby also the statistical power of the estimator. Additionally, due to confounding policies the estimated effects are local treatment effects for highly educated youth around the age cut-offs. Social implications - The findings suggest that threatening with a sanction is not the right instrument to activate highly educated unemployed school-leavers. While supportive measures appear to be more effective, this may be partly a consequence of acceptance of lower quality jobs due to liquidity constraints and of caseworkers giving misleading advice that temporary jobs are stepping stones to long-term employment. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to estimate the impact of changing the waiting period in UI. The paper adds to the existing literature on the effects of counselling and UI design on employment and job quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Bart Cockx & Eva Van Belle, 2019. "Waiting longer before claiming, and activating youth: no point?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(4), pages 658-687, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijmpps:ijm-04-2017-0060
    DOI: 10.1108/IJM-04-2017-0060
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. von Buxhoeveden, Mathias, 2019. "Unemployment insurance and youth labor market entry," Working Paper Series 2019:12, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    2. Di Pietro Giorgio, 2025. "Labour market effects of training programmes in the EU. Findings and policy lessons from a meta-analysis," JRC Research Reports JRC142871, Joint Research Centre.
    3. Massimiliano Bratti & Corinna Ghirelli & Enkelejda Havari & Giulia Santangelo, 2022. "Vocational training for unemployed youth in Latvia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(2), pages 677-717, April.
    4. Cockx, B. & Declercq, Koen & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2022. "Losing prospective entitlement to unemployment benefits. Impact on educational attainment," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    5. Cockx, Bart & Declercq, Koen & Dejemeppe, Muriel & Inga, Leda & Van der Linden, Bruno, 2020. "Switching from an inclining to a zero-level unemployment benefit profile: Good for work incentives?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Corinna Ghirelli & Enkelejda Havari & Giulia Santangelo & Marta Scettri, 2019. "Does on-the-job training help graduates find a job? Evidence from an Italian region," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(3), pages 500-524, February.
    7. Sam Desiere & Bart Cockx, 2021. "How Effective Are Hiring Subsidies to Reduce Long-Term Unemployment among Prime-Aged Jobseekers? Evidence from Belgium," CESifo Working Paper Series 9325, CESifo.
    8. Pignatti Clemente & Van Belle Eva, 2021. "Better together: Active and passive labor market policies in developed and developing economies," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J65 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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