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Measuring employment readiness for hard-to-place individuals

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Tranberg Bodilsen

    (Aarhus University)

  • Søren Albeck Nielsen

    (Aarhus University)

  • Michael Rosholm

    (Aarhus University
    IZA Institute of Labour Economics)

Abstract

In an era characterized by population aging and economic challenges in welfare states across the world, sustaining these welfare systems requires a large workforce. Many long-term unemployed individuals, receiving social assistance and only marginally attached to the labor market, aspire to work but encounter a labyrinth of obstacles. While various activation programs are available to unemployed individuals, their effectiveness in helping those who have been out of work for an extended period remains uncertain. Integrating these social assistance recipients into the labor market thus remains an unsolved challenge due to various disadvantages, including health-related, social, family, housing, and personal challenges that make it difficult for the group to establish a connection to the labor market. This study introduces the Employment Readiness Indicator Questionnaire (ERIQ), a tool designed to assess individuals’ progress toward employment and evaluate employment readiness among disadvantaged social assistance recipients. ERIQ demonstrates impressive predictive abilities and points towards actionable recommendations by identifying malleable traits, such as social skills, coping strategies, goal orientation, and self-efficacy, that are significantly associated with finding employment. ERIQ emerges as a valuable resource for policymakers and practitioners, advancing the goal of promoting labor market participation for disadvantaged individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Tranberg Bodilsen & Søren Albeck Nielsen & Michael Rosholm, 2025. "Measuring employment readiness for hard-to-place individuals," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04943-4
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04943-4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Takaya Saito & Marc Rehmsmeier, 2015. "The Precision-Recall Plot Is More Informative than the ROC Plot When Evaluating Binary Classifiers on Imbalanced Datasets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-21, March.
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    3. Wright, Marvin N. & Ziegler, Andreas, 2017. "ranger: A Fast Implementation of Random Forests for High Dimensional Data in C++ and R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 77(i01).
    4. Ronald W. McQuaid & Colin Lindsay, 2005. "The Concept of Employability," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 42(2), pages 197-219, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tshering Choki & Alvin Etang, 2025. "Understanding the Challenges and Constraints of Bhutanese Youth in Accessing Employment Opportunities," World Bank Publications - Reports 42646, The World Bank Group.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

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