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Counseling the Unemployed: Does It Lower Unemployment Duration and Recurrence?

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  • Crépon, Bruno

    (CREST)

  • Dejemeppe, Muriel

    (Université catholique de Louvain)

  • Gurgand, Marc

    (Paris School of Economics)

Abstract

This article evaluates the effects of intensive counseling schemes that are provided to about 20% of the unemployed since the 2001 French unemployment policy reform (PARE). Several of the schemes are dedicated at improving the quality of assignment of workers to jobs. As a result, it is necessary to assess their impact on unemployment recurrence as well as unemployment duration. Using duration models and a very rich data set, we can identify heterogenous and time-dependent causal effects of the schemes. We find significant favorable effects on both outcomes, but the impact on unemployment recurrence is stronger than on unemployment duration. In particular, the program shifts the incidence of recurrence, one year after employment, from 33 to 26%. This illustrates that labor market policies evaluations that consider unemployment duration alone can be misleading.

Suggested Citation

  • Crépon, Bruno & Dejemeppe, Muriel & Gurgand, Marc, 2005. "Counseling the Unemployed: Does It Lower Unemployment Duration and Recurrence?," IZA Discussion Papers 1796, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp1796
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    active labor market policy; employment duration; unemployment duration; counseling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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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