IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imf/imfwpa/2003-234.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase Employment?

Author

Listed:
  • Mr. Marcello M. Estevão

Abstract

Using panel data for 15 industrial countries, active labor market policies (ALMPs) are shown to have raised employment rates in the business sector in the 1990s, after controlling for many institutions, country-specific effects, and economic variables. Among such policies, direct subsidies to job creation were the most effective. ALMPs also affected employment rates by reducing real wages below levels allowed by technological growth, changes in the unemployment rate, and institutional and other economic factors. However, part of this wage moderation may be linked to a composition effect because policies were targeted to low-paid individuals. Whether ALMPs are cost-effective from a budgetary perspective remains to be determined, but they are certainly not substitutes for comprehensive institutional reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. Marcello M. Estevão, 2003. "Do Active Labor Market Policies Increase Employment?," IMF Working Papers 2003/234, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=17019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    2. Nickell, Stephen & Layard, Richard, 1999. "Labor market institutions and economic performance," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 46, pages 3029-3084, Elsevier.
    3. Calmfors, Lars & Skedinger, Per, 1995. "Does Active Labour-Market Policy Increase Employment? Theoretical Considerations and Some Empirical Evidence from Sweden," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 11(1), pages 91-109, Spring.
    4. Mr. Marcello M. Estevão & Ms. Nigar Nargis, 2002. "Wage Moderation in France," IMF Working Papers 2002/151, International Monetary Fund.
    5. International Monetary Fund, 2001. "Selected Euro-Area Countries: Rules-Based Fiscal Policy and Job-Rich Growth in France, Germany, Italy and Spain," IMF Staff Country Reports 2001/203, International Monetary Fund.
    6. David Card, 1995. "The Wage Curve: A Review," Working Papers 722, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    7. Stephen Nickell, 1997. "Unemployment and Labor Market Rigidities: Europe versus North America," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 55-74, Summer.
    8. David Card, 1995. "The Wage Curve: A Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(2), pages 285-299, June.
    9. Calmfors, Lars & Forslund, Anders & Hemström, Maria, 2002. "Does Active Labour Market Policy Work? Lessons from the Swedish Experiences," Seminar Papers 700, Stockholm University, Institute for International Economic Studies.
    10. Jackman, R. & Layard, R. & Nickell, S., 1996. "Combatting unemployment: is flexibility enough?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 47446, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097, Elsevier.
    12. John P Martin, 1998. "What Works Among Active Labour Market Policies: Evidence from OECD Countries' Experiences," RBA Annual Conference Volume (Discontinued), in: Guy Debelle & Jeff Borland (ed.),Unemployment and the Australian Labour Market, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    13. repec:hhs:iuiwop:429 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Martin, John P. & Grubb, David, 2001. "What works and for whom: a review of OECD countries' experiences with active labour market policies," Working Paper Series 2001:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    15. Calmfors, Lars & Lang, Harald, 1995. "Macroeconomic Effects of Active Labour Market Programmes in a Union Wage-Setting Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 105(430), pages 601-619, May.
    16. International Monetary Fund, 2003. "Republic of Poland: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2003/188, International Monetary Fund.
    17. repec:fth:prinin:343 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Philip Arestis & Andrew Brown & Malcolm Sawyer, 2001. "The Euro," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2294.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Martin, 2015. "Activation and active labour market policies in OECD countries: stylised facts and evidence on their effectiveness," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, December.
    2. Wolff, Joachim & Nivorozhkin, Anton, 2012. "Give them a break! Did activation of young welfare recipients overshoot in Germany? (A regression discontinuity analysis)," VfS Annual Conference 2012 (Goettingen): New Approaches and Challenges for the Labor Market of the 21st Century 62046, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Riadh Ben Jelili, "undated". "The Arab Region's Unemployment Problem Revisited," API-Working Paper Series 1015, Arab Planning Institute - Kuwait, Information Center.
    4. Verónica Escudero, 2018. "Are active labour market policies effective in activating and integrating low-skilled individuals? An international comparison," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Bukowski, Maciej & Lewandowski, Piotr & Koloch, Grzegorz & Baranowska, Anna & Magda, Iga & Szydlowski, Arkadiusz & Bober, Magda & Bieliński, Jacek & Zawistowski, Julian & Sarzalska, Malgorzata, 2008. "Employment in Poland 2007: Security on flexible labour market," MPRA Paper 14284, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. repec:ilo:ilowps:440180 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Loughrey, Jason & Donnellan, Trevor & Hanrahan, Kevin & Hennessy, Thia, 2013. "Agricultural Labour Market Flexibility in the EU and Candidate Countries," Working papers 155707, Factor Markets, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    8. Rüdiger Wapler & Daniel Werner & Katja Wolf, 2018. "Active labour market policies in Germany: do regional labour markets benefit?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(51), pages 5561-5578, November.
    9. Estevão, Marcello & Nargis, Nigar, 2005. "Structural Labor Market Changes in France," IZA Discussion Papers 1621, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. International Monetary Fund, 2005. "Israel: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2005/134, International Monetary Fund.
    11. David C Maré, 2005. "Indirect Effects of Active Labour Market Policies," HEW 0509004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Jha, Praveen K., 2009. "The well-being of labour in contemporary Indian economy : what's active labour market policy got to do with it?," ILO Working Papers 994401803402676, International Labour Organization.
    13. Mr. Marcello M. Estevão, 2004. "Why is Productivity Growth in the Euro Area so Sluggish?," IMF Working Papers 2004/200, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Tvrdon, Michal, 2007. "Labour Market Flexibility: the Case of Visegrad Countries," MPRA Paper 12314, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Miguel Baiao & Ilze Buligina, 2021. "Work Experience Led Programs and Employment Attainment," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 180-198.
    16. Andrews Dan & Ferrari Irene & Saia Alessandro, 2019. "The Costs of Firm Exit and Labour Market Policies: New Evidence from Europe," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-24, January.
    17. Mr. Marcello M. Estevão, 2005. "Product Market Regulation and the Benefits of Wage Moderation," IMF Working Papers 2005/191, International Monetary Fund.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlo Altavilla & Floro E. Caroleo, 2006. "Evaluating the Dynamic Effects of Active Labour Policies in Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 20(2), pages 349-382, June.
    2. Joanna Tyrowicz, 2009. "When Eastern Labour Markets Enter Western Europe CEECs. Labour Market Institutions upon Euro Zone Accession," Working Papers 2009-03, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    3. Calmfors, Lars & Forslund, Anders & Hemström, Maria, 2002. "Does active labour market policy work? Lessons from the Swedish experiences," Working Paper Series 2002:4, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Bukowski, Maciej & Lewandowski, Piotr & Koloch, Grzegorz & Baranowska, Anna & Magda, Iga & Szydlowski, Arkadiusz & Bober, Magda & Bieliński, Jacek & Zawistowski, Julian & Sarzalska, Malgorzata, 2008. "Employment in Poland 2007: Security on flexible labour market," MPRA Paper 14284, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Montuenga, Victor & Garcia, Inmaculada & Fernandez, Melchor, 2003. "Wage flexibility: evidence from five EU countries based on the wage curve," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 169-174, February.
    6. Erkki Koskela & Roope Uusitalo, 2003. "The Un-Intended Convergence: How the Finnish Unemployment Reached the European Level," CESifo Working Paper Series 878, CESifo.
    7. Carlo Altavilla & Floro Ernesto Caroleo, 2013. "Asymmetric Effects of National-based Active Labour Market Policies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(9), pages 1482-1506, October.
    8. Tito Boeri & Jan van Ours, 2013. "The Economics of Imperfect Labor Markets: Second Edition," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10142.
    9. Rüdiger Wapler & Daniel Werner & Katja Wolf, 2018. "Active labour market policies in Germany: do regional labour markets benefit?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(51), pages 5561-5578, November.
    10. Michèle Belot & Jan C. van Ours, 2004. "Does the recent success of some OECD countries in lowering their unemployment rates lie in the clever design of their labor market reforms?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(4), pages 621-642, October.
    11. Steve Nickell & Jan van Ours, 2000. "Why has Unemployment in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Fallen so Much?," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 26(s1), pages 201-220, July.
    12. Miguel Baiao & Ilze Buligina, 2021. "Work Experience Led Programs and Employment Attainment," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 180-198.
    13. Francesco Devicienti & Agata Maida & Paolo Sestito, 2003. "Nominal and Real Wage Rigidity: An Assessment Using Italian Microdata," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 33, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    14. Verónica Escudero, 2018. "Are active labour market policies effective in activating and integrating low-skilled individuals? An international comparison," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, December.
    15. Jens Suedekum, 2005. "Increasing returns and spatial unemployment disparities," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(2), pages 159-181, June.
    16. Hujer, Reinhard & Zeiss, Christopher, 2003. "Macroeconomic Impacts of ALMP on the Matching Process in West Germany," IZA Discussion Papers 915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Stefano Scarpetta, 1998. "Labor Market Reforms and Unemployment: Lessons from the Experience of the OECD Countries," Research Department Publications 4136, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    18. 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.
    19. H Buscher & C Dreger & R Ramos & J Surinach, 2009. "The Impact of Institutions on the Employment Performance in European Labour Markets," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 14(1), pages 17-34, March.
    20. Andrea Bassanini & Romain Duval, 2006. "The Determinants of Unemployment across OECD Countries," Post-Print halshs-00120584, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2003/234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Akshay Modi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/imfffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.