Germany's recovery from an unemployment disease and its resilience to the Great Recession is remarkable. Its success story makes it a showcase for labor policy and labor market reforms. This paper assesses the potential of the German experience as a model for effective, evidence-based...

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

France and Germany are two polar cases in the European debate about rising youth unemployment. Similar to what can be observed in Southern European countries, a 'lost generation' may arise in France. In stark contrast, youth unemployment has been on continuous decline in Germany for many years,...

Germany's labor market responded only mildly to the Great Recession. Important factors for this development include the strong economic position due to recent labor market reforms, the crisis affecting mainly export-oriented companies, the extension of short-time work, time buffers due to...

In der jüngsten Krise wurde so stark wie nie zuvor mit Kurzarbeit auf rezessionsbedingte Arbeitsausfälle reagiert. Das hat den Anstieg der Arbeitslosigkeit in Grenzen gehalten. Inzwischen ist die Zahl der Kurzarbeiter deutlich zurückgegangen: Seit ihrem Höhepunkt im Frühjahr 2009 hat sie...

Youth unemployment has become a severe economic and societal problem in many European countries. Based on the existing empirical evidence on different policy options, this chapter draws lessons for future policy making in order to effectively promote youth employment in Europe. In conclusion,...

Kurzarbeit hat sich bewährt, Unternehmen dabei zu unterstützen, ihre Belegschaft auch in konjunkturellen Durststrecken im Betrieb halten zu können. Dieses Instrument greift aber bei tiefergehenden strukturellen Problemen zu kurz. Da der der Weiterbildungsbedarf in unserer Gesellschaft zudem...

This paper assesses the current situation of youth unemployment in the European Union. In this context, the main questions are whether the European Youth Guarantee has had any effects and how the school-to-work transitions of young individuals in Europe could be improved.

This paper studies the role of training vouchers and caseworkers in public training programs. Using a rich administrative data set, we apply matching and regression methods to measure the effect of the Hartz reform in Germany, which introduced training vouchers and imposed more selective...

Short-time work was the German answer to the economic crisis. The number of short-time workers strongly increased in the recession and peaked at more than 1.5 million. Without the extensive use of short-time work, unemployment would have risen by approximately twice as much as it actually did....