Le contrôle de la recherche d'emploi est-il efficace ?

Since July 2004 the job search effort of long-term unemployed benefit claimants is monitored in Belgium. We develop a structural approach to evaluate the impact of the reform on the exit rate to employment and on earnings. A job-search model is built and then estimated on the basis of a sample of participants aged 25 ? 29. After a validation stage, the model is simulated to estimate the average impact on participants. This reform increases the exit rate without reducing substantially the earnings of successful job seekers. Given the risk of being sanctioned if search effort is insufficient and because the cost of search increases, the reform nevertheless reduces slightly the expected flow of income of participants. From the point of view of the State and Society as a whole, the reform turns out to be beneficial.