The German government has spent between 7bn and 11bn Euro per year on active labor market policies (ALMP) in East Germany in the last decade. The effectiveness of the most important programs (in terms of participants and spending) such as job-creation schemes and vocational training has been...

Fostering and supporting start-up businesses by unemployed persons has become anincreasingly important issue in many European countries. These new ventures are beingsupported by various governmental programs. Potential benefits include not only the end ofunemployment for the new entrepreneur but...

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...

Turning unemployment into self-employment has become a major focus of German activelabour market policy (ALMP) in recent years. If effective, this would not only reduceGermany’s persistently high unemployment rate, but also increase its notoriously low selfemploymentrate. Empirical evidence on...

The evaluation of labor market policies has become an important issue in many Europeancountries. In recent years, a number of them have opened their administrative databases forevaluation studies. The advantages of administrative data are straightforward: they areaccurate, contain a large number...

In view of the demographic trends, most EU countries face the problem of a declining workforce in the future. Understanding the interaction between income support systems (such asunemployment benefits, social assistance, early retirement and pension systems) and totallabor supply is of crucial...

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...

Recent microeconometric evaluation studies have shown that start-up subsidies for unemployed individuals are an effective policy tool to improve long-term employment and income prospects of participants, in particular compared to other active labor market programs (e.g. training, job search...

Turning unemployment into self-employment has become a major focus of German active labour market policy (ALMP) in recent years. If effective, this would not only reduce Germany?s persistently high unemployment rate, but also increase its notoriously low self-employment rate. Empirical evidence...