IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jpamgt/v20y2001i3p505-523.html

Testing a Financial Incentive to Promote Re-employment among Displaced Workers: The Canadian Earnings Supplement Project (ESP)

Author

Listed:
  • Howard S. Bloom

    (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, New York)

  • Saul Schwartz
  • Susanna Lui-Gurr

    (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, Vancouver)

  • Suk-Won Lee

    (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

  • Jason Peng

    (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, Vancouver)

  • Wendy Bancroft

    (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, Vancouver)

Abstract

This article presents findings from a randomized experiment conducted in four Canadian provinces to measure the effects of a generous financial incentive that was designed to promote rapid re-employment among workers who were displaced from their jobs by changing economic conditions. The incentive tested was an earnings supplement which, for as long as 2 years and as much as $250 weekly, would replace 75 percent of the earnings loss incurred by displaced workers who took a new lower-paying full-time job within six months of receiving a supplement offer. Findings from the experiment indicate that although persons offered the supplement understood its terms and conditions, only 2 out of 10 actually received supplement payments. Furthermore, the supplement offer had little effect on job-search behavior, employment prospects, or receipt of unemployment insurance. Nevertheless, persons who received supplement payments benefited from them substantially. On average, they received payments for 64 weeks, totaling $8,705. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Suggested Citation

  • Howard S. Bloom & Saul Schwartz & Susanna Lui-Gurr & Suk-Won Lee & Jason Peng & Wendy Bancroft, 2001. "Testing a Financial Incentive to Promote Re-employment among Displaced Workers: The Canadian Earnings Supplement Project (ESP)," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(3), pages 505-523.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:20:y:2001:i:3:p:505-523
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.1005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/pam.1005
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/pam.1005?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Howard S. Bloom, 1990. "Back to Work: Testing Reemployment Services for Displaced Workers," Books from Upjohn Press, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, number btw.
    2. repec:mpr:mprres:856 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Noel Gaston & Daniel Trefler, 1997. "The Labour Market Consequences of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 18-41, February.
    4. Patricia Anderson & Walter Corson & Paul Decker, "undated". "The New Jersey Unemployment Insurance Reemployment Demonstration Project: Follow-Up Report," Mathematica Policy Research Reports eba060d41b8145b5a230fa76b, Mathematica Policy Research.
    5. Meyer, Bruce D, 1996. "What Have We Learned from the Illinois Reemployment Bonus Experiment?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 26-51, January.
    6. Atkinson, Anthony B & Micklewright, John, 1991. "Unemployment Compensation and Labor Market Transitions: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 1679-1727, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brigitte C. Madrian, 2014. "Applying Insights from Behavioral Economics to Policy Design," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 663-688, August.
    2. Sinyagin, Yury (Синягин, Юрий) & Sheburakov, Ilya (Шебураков, Илья), 2018. "Rationale and development of a model for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of public civil servants on the basis of a person-centered approach to management [Обоснование И Разработка Модели Повышения Эффективности И Результативности Деят," Working Papers 061819, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

    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. Paul L. Burgess & Stuart A. Low, 1998. "How do Unemployment Insurance and Recall Expectations Affect on-the-job Search among Workers Who Receive Advance Notice of Layoff?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(2), pages 241-252, January.
    2. Dar, Amit & Gill, Indermit S, 1998. "Evaluating Retraining Programs in OECD Countries: Lessons Learned," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 13(1), pages 79-101, February.
    3. Florent Fremigacci, 2010. "Maximum Benefits Duration and Older Workers’Transitions out of Unemployment : a Regression Discontinuity Approach," Documents de recherche 10-12, Centre d'Études des Politiques Économiques (EPEE), Université d'Evry Val d'Essonne.
    4. Kornfeld, Robert & Bloom, Howard S, 1999. "Measuring Program Impacts on Earnings and Employment: Do Unemployment Insurance Wage Reports from Employers Agree with Surveys of Individuals?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(1), pages 168-197, January.
    5. Leigh, Duane E., 1992. "Retraining displaced workers : what can developing countries learn from OECD nations?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 946, The World Bank.
    6. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    7. Raj Chetty, 2005. "Why do Unemployment Benefits Raise Unemployment Durations? Moral Hazard vs. Liquidity," NBER Working Papers 11760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. D'Addio, Anna Cristina & De Greef, Isabelle & Rosholm, Michael, 2002. "Assessing Unemployment Traps in Belgium Using Panel Data Sample Selection Models," IZA Discussion Papers 669, IZA Network @ LISER.
    9. Brigitte Dormont & Denis Fougère & Ana Prieto, 2001. "L'effet de l'allocation unique dégressive sur la reprise d'emploi," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 343(1), pages 3-28.
    10. Didier Blanchet, 1996. "La référence assurantielle en matière de protection sociale : apports et limites," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 291(1), pages 33-45.
    11. Raj Chetty, 2004. "Consumption Commitments, Unemployment Durations, and Local Risk Aversion," NBER Working Papers 10211, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jos Van Ommeren, 2003. "The Unemployed Individual's Marginal Willingness to Pay for the Remaining Entitlement Period," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 17(2), pages 271-283, June.
    13. Peter Z. Schochet & Ronald D'Amico & Jillian Berk & Sarah Dolfin & Nathan Wozny, "undated". "Estimated Impacts for Participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program Under the 2002 Amendments," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 582d8723f6884d4eb7a3f95a4, Mathematica Policy Research.
    14. Rebollo-Sanz, Yolanda Fatima & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2016. "When the Going Gets Tough... Financial Incentives, Duration of Unemployment and Job-Match Quality," IZA Discussion Papers 10044, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Gerard J. van den Berg & Antoine Bozio & Mónica Costa Dias, 2020. "Policy discontinuity and duration outcomes," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), pages 871-916, July.
    16. Galiani, Sebastian & Hopenhayn, Hugo A., 2003. "Duration and risk of unemployment in Argentina," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 199-212, June.
    17. Gary Burtless, 2002. "Can Supply-Side policies Reduce unemployment? Lessons from North America," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 5(2), pages 115-142, June.
    18. Saarela, Jan, 2006. "Replacement rates and labour market behaviour," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 187-211, September.
    19. Gangl, Markus, 2002. "Welfare state stabilization of employment careers: Unenployement benefits and job histories in the United States and West Germany," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment FS I 02-207, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Standardi, Gabriele & Cai, Yiyong & Yeh, Sonia, 2017. "Sensitivity of modeling results to technological and regional details: The case of Italy's carbon mitigation policy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 116-128.

    More about this item

    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:wly:jpamgt:v:20:y:2001:i:3:p:505-523. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/34787/home .

    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.