Job Search, Employment Capabilities and Well-being of People on Welfare in the Dutch ‘Participation Income’ Experiments

The chapter discusses the history, design and first empirical findings of Dutch local RCT (Randomised Controlled Trial) experiments with participation income which are currently implemented in 11 cities. The emergence of these local experiments can be viewed as reflecting an ongoing shift in Dutch social policy from a classical ‘stick and carrot’ or workfare approach of social welfare, to a social investment and capacitating approach. The empirical analyses discuss the methodology and outcomes on job search, employment chances and work capabilities, and the health and well-being of some 1500 participants using survey and municipal administrative data. We perform LCA (Latent Class Analysis) to provide a profile of the participants of the experiments and estimate (binary logit regression) their exit probabilities into paid work. In the end we formulate some expectations and conclusions about the meaning and effects of these participation income experiments in the Netherlands for people’s employment, health and well-being situation, and their wider implications for social policy, notably with a view to a social investment and capacitating approach.