Essays in labor economics : unemployment insurance, job search assistance and subsidized employment[Essais en économie du travail : assurance chômage, aide à la recherche d'emploi et contrats aidés]

This thesis examines three key components of labor market policy and their impact on employmenttrajectories. The first chapter analyzes a large randomized experiment in France that providedinformation on part-time unemployment benefits to unemployment insurance recipients. Thefindings show that this information increased the likelihood of working while on claim but reducedthe unemployment exit rate, indicating lock-in effects. Despite more days worked, the longerduration of compensated unemployment left net insurance expenditures unchanged. The secondchapter assesses the influence of caseworkers on young people's school-to-work transitions inFrance. Using a unique dataset and quasi-random assignment, we measure each caseworker'svalue-added. Results reveal significant differences, with high-performing caseworkers oftenspecializing in either employment or training assistance. Exploring various reassignment scenarios,we find that random allocation is suboptimal for maximizing total days worked. The third chapterexamines whether job-related experience gained through subsidized employment enhancesdropouts' employment prospects compared to graduates. Using a large-scale correspondencestudy, we show that while dropouts generally have lower interview rates, this gap narrows with jobrelatedexperience, especially when certified. In less tight markets, they can even achieve interviewrates similar to those of graduates.