Effects of Intensifying Labor Market Programs on Post-Unemployment Wages: Evidence From a Controlled Experiment

This paper investigates effects on wages of a Danish field experiment intensifying Active Labor Market Policies (ALMP).We link unemployed workers who participated in an ALMP experiment called “Quickly Back” carried out by the Danish Ministry of Employment 2005-2006 in two counties to matched employer-employee and public transfer register data up to 2008 enabling us to analyze exact labor market transitions and jobs of the participants. Men in one of the counties experienced significant higher probability of earning higher short and long term wages after treatment. Treated men in the other county encountered a higher probability of earning lower wages than non-treated in the short term. Women saw small positive or zero effects on wages.