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Do Long-term Unemployed Workers Benefit from Targeted Wage Subsidies?

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  • Lechner, Michael
  • Schünemann, Benjamin
  • Wunsch, Conny

    (University of Basel)

Abstract

We evaluate a wage subsidy program that is targeted at long-term unemployed workers in Germany. We use an alternative identification procedure compared to empirical studies con­ducted so far. Exploiting the particular program regulations and large administrative data we estimate the impact of program availability using a regression discontinuity framework. Our results suggest no significant impact of the availability of the subsidy on labor market out­comes of the target group. Even though our analysis lacks some statistical power, our findings do not support the substantial positive effects obtained from matching studies. As our ap­proach does not require observability of all drivers of selection, previous empirical studies justifying government expenditures on wage subsidies based on matching methods should be reconsidered.

Suggested Citation

  • Lechner, Michael & Schünemann, Benjamin & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "Do Long-term Unemployed Workers Benefit from Targeted Wage Subsidies?," Working papers 2013/14, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    • Handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2013/14
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    Cited by:

    1. Lechner, Michael & Scioch, Patrycja & Wunsch, Conny, 2013. "Do Firms Benefit from Active Labour Market Policies?," Working papers 2013/11, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    2. Pasquini, Alessandra & Centra, Marco & Pellegrini, Guido, 2019. "Fighting long-term unemployment: Do we have the whole picture?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. 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.
    4. Andrea Albanese & Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe, 2022. "Long-Term Effects of Hiring Subsidies for Unemployed Youths—Beware of Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9972, CESifo.
    5. Rainer Eppel & Helmut Mahringer, 2013. "Do Wage Subsidies Work in Boosting Economic Inclusion? Evidence on Effect Heterogeneity in Austria," WIFO Working Papers 456, WIFO.
    6. Astrid Kunze & Marta Palczyńska & Iga Magda, 2023. "The employment effects of a wage subsidy for the young during an economic recovery," IBS Working Papers 04/2023, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    7. Antonia Asenjo & Verónica Escudero & Hannah Liepmann, 2024. "Why Should we Integrate Income and Employment Support? A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(1), pages 1-29, January.
    8. Michael Weber, 2016. "The short-run and long-run effects of decentralizing public employment services," ifo Working Paper Series 209, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    9. Angelov, Nikolay & Eliason, Marcus, 2014. "The effects of targeted labour market programs for job seekers with occupational disabilities," Working Paper Series 2014:27, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Nikolay Angelov & Marcus Eliason, 2018. "Wage subsidies targeted to jobseekers with disabilities: subsequent employment and disability retirement," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-37, December.
    11. Albanese, Andrea & Cockx, Bart & Dejemeppe, Muriel, 2024. "Long-term effects of hiring subsidies for low-educated unemployed youths," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    12. Joachim Wolff & Gesine Stephan, 2013. "Subsidized work before and after the German Hartz reforms: design of major schemes, evaluation results and lessons learnt," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Mitnik, Oscar A., 2017. "Unobservable, but unimportant? The relevance of usually unobserved variables for the evaluation of labor market policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 14-25.
    14. Jeff Borland, 2016. "Wage Subsidy Programs: A Primer," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 19(3), pages 131-144.
    15. Moczall, Andreas, 2015. "The effect of hiring subsidies on regular wages," IAB-Discussion Paper 201501, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    16. Rainer Eppel & Helmut Mahringer, 2012. "Do wage subsidies work in boosting economic inclusion? Evidence on e," EcoMod2012 4065, EcoMod.
    17. Alic BÎRCA, 2023. "Workforce Participation in Active Labour Market Policies: A Comparative Analysis in EU Member States," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 24(2), pages 173-187, May.
    18. Deuchert, Eva & Kauer, Lukas, 2013. "Hiring subsidies for people with a disability: Helping or hindering? - Evidence from a small scale social field experiment," Economics Working Paper Series 1335, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    19. Sjögren, Anna & Vikström, Johan, 2015. "How long and how much? Learning about the design of wage subsidies from policy changes and discontinuities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 127-137.
    20. Moczall, Andreas, 2015. "The effect of hiring subsidies on regular wages," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113225, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Vom Berge, Philipp & Klingert, Isabell & Becker, Sebastian & Lenhart, Julia & Trenkle, Simon & Umkehrer, Matthias, 2016. "Mindestlohnbegleitforschung - Überprüfung der Ausnahmeregelung für Langzeitarbeitslose : Forschungsauftrag des Bundesministeriums für Arbeit und Soziales (BMAS)," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201608, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage subsidy; long-term unemployment; regression discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

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