IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwidps/37.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effectiveness of European Active Labor Market Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Kluve, Jochen

Abstract

Measures of Active Labor Market Policy are widely used in European countries, but despite many econometric evaluation studies no conclusive cross-country evidence exists regarding ?what program works for what target group under what (economic and institutional) circumstances??. This paper results from an extensive research project for the European Commission aimed at answering that question using a meta-analytical framework. The empirical results are surprisingly clear-cut: Rather than contextual factors such as labor market institutions or the business cycle, it is almost exclusively the program type that matters for program effectiveness. While direct employment programs in the public sector appear detrimental,wage subsidies and ?Services and Sanctions? can be effective in increasing participants? employment probability.

Suggested Citation

  • Kluve, Jochen, 2006. "The Effectiveness of European Active Labor Market Policy," RWI Discussion Papers 37, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwidps:37
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/18588/1/DP_06_037.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw, 2006. "Counseling And Monitoring Of Unemployed Workers: Theory And Evidence From A Controlled Social Experiment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(3), pages 895-936, August.
    2. Marco Caliendo & Reinhard Hujer & Stephan Thomsen, 2008. "Identifying effect heterogeneity to improve the efficiency of job creation schemes in Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(9), pages 1101-1122.
    3. Jaap H. Abbring & Gerard J. Berg & Jan C. Ours, 2005. "The Effect of Unemployment Insurance Sanctions on the Transition Rate from Unemployment to Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(505), pages 602-630, July.
    4. Arild Aakvik, 2003. "Estimating the employment effects of education for disabled workers in Norway," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 515-533, July.
    5. Michael Lechner & Ruth Miquel & Conny Wunsch, 2011. "Long‐Run Effects Of Public Sector Sponsored Training In West Germany," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 742-784, August.
    6. Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2001. "Evaluating an Innovative Redundancy-Retraining Project: The Austrian Steel Foundation," IZA Discussion Papers 277, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Jochen Kluve & Christoph M. Schmidt, 2002. "Can training and employment subsidies combat European unemployment? [‘The non-parametric identification of treatment effects in duration models’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 409-448.
    8. Bruno Crépon & Muriel Dejemeppe & Marc Gurgand, 2005. "Counseling the unemployed: does it lower unemployment duration and recurrence?," Working Papers halshs-00590769, HAL.
    9. Forslund, Anders & Johansson, Per & Lindqvist, Linus, 2004. "Employment subsidies - A fast lane from unemployment to work?," Working Paper Series 2004:18, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Røed, Knut & Raaum, Oddbjørn, 2003. "The Effect of Programme Participation on the Transition Rate from Unemployment to Employment," Memorandum 13/2003, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    11. Stenberg, Anders, 2002. "Short Run Effects on Wage Earnings of the Adult Education Initiative in Sweden," Umeå Economic Studies 593, Umeå University, Department of Economics, revised 07 May 2003.
    12. Cavaco, Sandra & Fougère, Denis & Pouget, Julien, 2005. "Estimating the Effect of a Retraining Program for Displaced Workers on Their Transition to Permanent Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 1513, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Hämäläinen, Kari & Ollikainen, Virve, 2004. "Differential Effects of Active Labour Market Programmes in the Early Stages of Young People's Unemployment," Research Reports 115, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Rafael Lalive & Jan C. van Ours & Josef Zweimüller, 2005. "The Effect Of Benefit Sanctions On The Duration Of Unemployment," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(6), pages 1386-1417, December.
    15. F. Alfonso Arellano, 2010. "Do Training Programmes Get The Unemployed Back To Work? A Look At The Spanish Experience," Revista de Economia Aplicada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Estructura Economica y Economia Publica, vol. 18(2), pages 39-65, Autumn.
    16. Fougère, Denis & Pradel, Jacqueline & Roger, Muriel, 2005. "Does Job-Search Assistance Affect Search Effort and Outcomes? A Microeconometric Analysis of Public versus Private Search Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 1825, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Hujer, Reinhard & Caliendo, Marco & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2004. "New evidence on the effects of job creation schemes in Germany--a matching approach with threefold heterogeneity," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 257-302, December.
    18. Reinhard Hujer & Stephan Thomsen & Christopher Zeiss, 2006. "The effects of vocational training programmes on the duration of unemployment in Eastern Germany," AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis, Springer;German Statistical Society, vol. 90(2), pages 299-321, June.
    19. Bernd Fitzenberger & Stefan Speckesser, 2007. "Employment effects of the provision of specific professional skills and techniques in Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 529-573, May.
    20. Lechner Michael & Miquel Ruth & Wunsch Conny, 2007. "The Curse and Blessing of Training the Unemployed in a Changing Economy: The Case of East Germany After Unification," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 8(4), pages 468-509, December.
    21. Inés Hardoy, 2005. "Impact of Multiple Labour Market Programmes on Multiple Outcomes: The Case of Norwegian Youth Programmes," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(3), pages 425-467, September.
    22. Andrén , Daniela & Andrén, Thomas, 2002. "Assessing the Employment Effects of Labor Market Training Programs in Sweden," Working Papers in Economics 70, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    23. Cees Gorter & Guyonne R. J. Kalb, 1996. "Estimating the Effect of Counseling and Monitoring the Unemployed Using a Job Search Model," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(3), pages 590-610.
    24. Stenberg, Anders, 2003. "The Adult Education Initiative in Sweden –Second Year Effects on Wage Earnings and the Influence on Branch Mobility," Umeå Economic Studies 608, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    25. Micklewright, John & Nagy, Gyula, 2005. "Job Search Monitoring and Unemployment Duration in Hungary: Evidence from a Randomised Control Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 1839, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    26. Lars Calmfors & Anders Forslund & Maria Hemström, 2002. "Does Active Labour Market Policy Work? Lessons from the Swedish Experiences," CESifo Working Paper Series 675, CESifo.
    27. Eichler, Martin & Lechner, Michael, 2002. "An evaluation of public employment programmes in the East German State of Sachsen-Anhalt," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 143-186, April.
    28. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias & Costas Meghir & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Evaluating the Employment Impact of a Mandatory Job Search Program," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 569-606, June.
    29. Carling, Kenneth & Gustafson, Lena, 1999. "Self-employment grants vs. subsidized employment: Is there a difference in the re-unemployment risk?," Working Paper Series 1999:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    30. 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.
    31. Jensen, Peter & Rosholm, Michael & Svarer, Michael, 2003. "The response of youth unemployment to benefits, incentives, and sanctions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 301-316, June.
    32. Fredriksson, Peter & Johansson, Per, 2003. "Employment, Mobility, and Active Labor Market Programs," Working Paper Series 2003:5, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    33. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2000. "Evaluation methods for non-experimental data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 427-468, January.
    34. Weber, Andrea & Hofer, Helmut, 2003. "Active Job-search Programs a Promising Tool? A Microeconometric Evaluation for Austria," Economics Series 131, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    35. Anders Stenberg, 2005. "Comprehensive Education for the Unemployed — Evaluating the Effects on Unemployment of the Adult Education Initiative in Sweden," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(1), pages 123-146, March.
    36. Weber, Andrea & Hofer, Helmut, 2004. "Employment Effects of Early Interventions on Job Search Programs," IZA Discussion Papers 1076, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    37. Marco Caliendo & Reinhard Hujer & Stephan L. Thomsen, 2008. "The employment effects of job-creation schemes in Germany: A microeconometric evaluation," Advances in Econometrics, in: Modelling and Evaluating Treatment Effects in Econometrics, pages 381-428, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    38. Jaenichen, Ursula, 2002. "Lohnkostenzuschüsse und individuelle Arbeitslosigkeit : Analysen auf der Grundlage kombinierter Erhebungs- und Prozessdaten unter Anwendung von Propensity Score Matching (Wage subsidies and individual," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 35(3), pages 327-351.
    39. Cockx, Bart, 2003. "Vocational Training of Unemployed Workers in Belgium," IZA Discussion Papers 682, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    40. Caliendo, Marco & Hujer, Reinhard & Thomsen, Stephan L., 2005. "Individual employment effects of job creation schemes in Germany with respect to sectoral heterogeneity," IAB-Discussion Paper 200513, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    41. Bolvig, Iben & Jensen, Peter & Rosholm, Michael, 2003. "The Employment Effects of Active Social Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 736, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Kluve, Jochen, 2006. "The Effectiveness of European Active Labor Market Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 2018, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Kluve, Jochen & Fertig, Michael & Jacobi, Lena & Nima, Leonhard & Schaffner, Sandra & Schmidt, Christoph M. & Card, David & Góra, Marek & Jensen, Peter & Leetmaa, Reelika & Patacchini, Eleonora & van , 2005. "Study on the effectiveness of ALMPs: Research project for the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Final report," RWI Projektberichte, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, number 69929.
    3. repec:zbw:rwidps:0037 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jochen Kluve, 2006. "The Effectiveness of European Active Labor Market Policy," RWI Discussion Papers 0037, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    5. Kluve, Jochen, 2010. "The effectiveness of European active labor market programs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 904-918, December.
    6. Rodokanakis Stavros, 2009. "Comparing the Probability of Unemployment in Southern Greece Vis-À-Vis the Entire Country," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 12(12), pages 17-43, January.
    7. RODOKANAKIS, Stavros & VLACHOS, Vasileios, 2010. "A Non-Experimental Evaluation Of Education And Training In Greece: The Cases Of Northern Aegean And Crete," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 10(1).
    8. Stavros Rodokanakis, 2010. "A Non-Experimental Evaluation of Unemployment Risk in Crete and the Ionian Islands: Regional Evidence for Greece," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2010(4), pages 44-63.
    9. Kelly, Elish & McGuinness, Seamus & O'Connell, Philip J., 2011. "What Can Active Labour Market Policies Do?," Papers EC1, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    10. Rodokanakis Stavros, 2010. "The Dynamics of Regional Labour Markets and Training Programmes: Greek Evidence," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 17(1), pages 93-115, June.
    11. Stavros Rodokanakis, 2010. "Unemployment Risk in Southern Greece," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 13(35), pages 55-82, (1).
    12. Biewen, Martin & Fitzenberger, Bernd & Osikominu, Aderonke & Waller, Marie, 2007. "Which Program for Whom? Evidence on the Comparative Effectiveness of Public Sponsored Training Programs in Germany," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-042, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2007. "What Works Best for Getting the Unemployed Back to Work: Employment Services or Small-Business Assistance Programmes? Evidence from Romania," IZA Discussion Papers 3051, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Martin Biewen & Bernd Fitzenberger & Aderonke Osikominu & Marie Paul, 2014. "The Effectiveness of Public-Sponsored Training Revisited: The Importance of Data and Methodological Choices," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 32(4), pages 837-897.
    15. Michael Lechner & Stephan Wiehler, 2011. "Kids or courses? Gender differences in the effects of active labor market policies," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 783-812, July.
    16. Caliendo, Marco & Steiner, Viktor, 2005. "Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland : Bestandsaufnahme und Bewertung der mikroökonomischen Evaluationsergebnisse (Active labour market policy in Germany * review ans assessment of the microecono," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 396-418.
    17. Annette Bergemann & Gerard J. Van Den Berg, 2008. "Active Labor Market Policy Effects for Women in Europe - A Survey," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 91-92, pages 385-408.
    18. Graversen, B.K. & van Ours, J.C., 2006. "How to Help Unemployed Find Jobs Quickly : Experimental Evidence from a Mandatory Activation Program," Other publications TiSEM 4762e132-4660-4c32-8813-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Rosholm, Michael, 2008. "Experimental Evidence on the Nature of the Danish Employment Miracle," Working Papers 08-14, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    20. 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.
    21. Caliendo, Marco & Steiner, Viktor, 2005. "Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland : Bestandsaufnahme und Bewertung der mikroökonomischen Evaluationsergebnisse (Active labour market policy in Germany * review ans assessment of the microecono," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(2/3), pages 396-418.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Active Labor Market Policy; Program evaluation; Meta analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:rwidps:37. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.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.