"In Germany, so-called 'integration agreements' between labor market agencies and job seekers stipulate placement efforts of the Employment Agency as well as the job search requirements of the job seekers. A pilot project examines the effectiveness of such integration contracts. In this project,...

According to a study of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), the ZEW and the IAT settling-in allowances for job introduction as well as for hard-to-place workers have a positive impact on employment prospects of subsidized workers. The study is part of the evaluation of recent labour...

"In Germany, since 2005 needy job-seekers without access to earnings-related and insurance-paid 'unemployment benefit I' are entitled to means-tested and tax-funded 'unemployment benefit II'. Several active labour market programmes support the integration of these needy job-seekers into the...

Social welfare systems usually imply specific obligations for benefit recipients. If a recipient does not comply with these obligations, a sanction involving a punitive benefits reduction may be imposed. In this paper we give an overview of the literature on the effects of sanctions in social...

Social welfare systems usually imply specific obligations for benefit recipients. If a recipient does not comply with these obligations, a sanction involving a punitive benefits reduction may be imposed. In this paper we give an overview of the literature on the effects of sanctions in social...

Further vocational training for the unemployed aims at enhancing their job prospects. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of subsidized training programs for means-tested unemployment benefit recipients in Germany. The empirical findings are based on rich administrative data from the German...

"At the start of the year 2005 the Social Code II came into force in Germany. The reform introduced a unified means-tested benefit, the unemployment benefit II, for employable people who live in needy households. Prior to this reform they could have either received unemployment assistance...

"With the 'First Act for Modern Services on the Labour Market' (Hartz I), an innovative earnings insurance scheme for older workers was introduced in 2003: anyone above the age of 50 who, in order to end or avoid unemployment, takes up a job paying much less than his/her previous employment,...