Recent empirical evidence has found that employment services and small-businessassistance programmes are often successful at getting the unemployed back to work. Oneimportant concern of policy makers is to decide which of these two programmes is moreeffective and for whom...

According to recent and largely untested theories, unemployment benefits (UBs) could improve the extent and quality of job reallocation even at the cost of increasing unemployment. Using yearly panel data from a large number of countries, we evaluate empirically the relationship between...

A substantial number of young unemployed participate in active labor market programs(ALMP) in Germany each year. While the aims of these programs are clear – a fast reintegrationinto employment or enrollment in further education – a comprehensive analysis oftheir effectiveness has yet to be...

Die Gründungsförderung der Bundesagentur für Arbeit ist im Rahmen der aktivenArbeitsmarktpolitik im Rechtskreis SGB III nach wie vor eines der bedeutsamstenInstrumente. Zum 1. August 2006 löste der Gründungszuschuss (§ 57 SGB III) seine beidenVorgänger, das Überbrückungsgeld und den...

In this paper we investigate two stages in the process that leads to participation in ALMP programs. We use unique administrative data from the Austrian unemployment registers which allow us to distinguish between caseworker assignment and actual program enrollment. Although 25% of newly...

Die Beschäftigung älterer Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland hat in den letzten Jahren merklichzugenommen. Die Studie untersucht diese jüngste Verbesserung der ArbeitsmarktsituationÄlterer und analysiert den Beitrag, den die arbeitsmarkt- und sozialpolitischen Reformen derletzten Jahre dabei...

This study analyzes the treatment effects of public training programs for the unemployed inGermany. Based on propensity score matching methods we extend the picture that has beensketched in previous studies by estimating treatment effects of medium-term programs fordifferent sub-groups with...

The EU experience with youth unemployment has changed over recent years with the launchand re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna process. A dramatic shift has takenplace from the 1990s emphasis on labour market flexibility as a tool to abate youth long termunemployment to the more...

In many countries, caseworkers in a public employment office have the dual roles ofcounselling and monitoring unemployed persons. These roles often conflict with each otherleading to important caseworker heterogeneity: Some consider providing services to theirclients and satisfying their demands...

Support schemes for unemployed aiming for self-employment have been recently reformedseveral times. In 2003, the start-up subsidy was added to the existing bridging allowance...