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No more skivvy schemes? Active labour market policies and the British New Deal for the young unemployed in context

Author

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  • John Van Reenen

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies)

Abstract

The British New Deal for Young People began in January 1998. After 6 months of unemployment, 18-24 year olds enter a 'Gateway' period where they are given extensive job search assistance. If they are unable to obtain an unsubsidised job, then they can enter one of four New Deal options. One of these is a job subsidy ("employers' option"), the others involve full-time education and training, government-provided employment ("environmental task force") or voluntary work. In this paper I evaluate the New Deal in a historical and international context. The toughening of the work search criterion has evolved since the Restart initiative in 1986. Using either the age-related eligibility criteria and/or a comparison of pilot and non-pilot areas results suggest that there has been a significant increase in outflows to employment due to the New Deal. Unemployed young men are now about 20% more likely to get jobs as a result of the policy (the stock of youth employment is about 17,000 higher than it would be without the New Deal). Much of this effect is likely to be because of the take up of the employer wage subsidy, but at least a fifth of the effect is due to enhanced job search. Taken as a whole I conclude that the social benefits of the New Deal outweigh the costs.

Suggested Citation

  • John Van Reenen, 2001. "No more skivvy schemes? Active labour market policies and the British New Deal for the young unemployed in context," IFS Working Papers W01/09, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:01/09
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    File URL: http://www.ifs.org.uk/wps/wp0109.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Maciej Bukowski & Grzegorz Koloch & Piotr Lewandowski & Anna Baranowska & Iga Magda & Arkadiusz Szydlowski & Jacek Bielinski & Magdalena Bober & Malgorzata Sarzalska & Julian Zawistowski, 2008. "Employment in Poland 2007. Security on a Flexible Labour Market," Books and Reports published by IBS, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych, number zwp2007 edited by Maciej Bukowski, january.
    2. Sean Worth, 2005. "Beating the ‘churning’ trap in the youth labour market," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 19(2), pages 403-414, June.
    3. Puhani, Patrick A., 2003. "A Test of the 'Krugman Hypothesis' for the United States, Britain, and Western Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-18, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Patrick A. Puhani, 2008. "Transatlantic Differences in Labour Markets: Changes in Wage and Non‐Employment Structures in the 1980s and the 1990s," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(3), pages 312-338, August.
    5. Viktor Steiner & Tobias Hagen, 2002. "Was kann die Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland aus der Evaluationsforschung in anderen europäischen Ländern lernen?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(2), pages 189-206, May.
    6. Jeff Borland & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2011. "Does 'Work for the Dole' work?: an Australian perspective on work experience programmes," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(28), pages 4353-4368.
    7. Patrick A. Puhani, 2008. "Transatlantic Differences in Labour Markets: Changes in Wage and Non‐Employment Structures in the 1980s and the 1990s," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 9(3), pages 312-338, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour Market Programme evaluation; job search; wage subsidy; Difference in Differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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