The trend towards activation has been one of the major issues in recent welfare and labour market reforms in Europe and the US. Despite considerable initial variation across national models with respect to the scope and intensity of activation, redefining the link between social protection and...

This paper provides a theoretical and quantitative analysis of various types of wellknown employment subsidies. Two important questions are addressed: (i) How should employment subsidies be targeted? (ii) How large should the subsidies be? We consider measures involving targeting workers 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,...

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...

Wir untersuchen die Wirkung im März 2003 begonnener Weiterbildungs-, Trainings- und Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen auf die Arbeitsmarktchancen der Geförderten. Hierzu werden die jeweiligen Teilnehmer sowohl mit einer ähnlichen Gruppe nicht geförderter Personen als auch mit ähnlichen...

Offering unemployed individuals a subsidy to become self-employed is a widespread active labor market policy strategy. Previous studies have illustrated its high effectiveness to help participants escaping unemployment and improving their labor market prospects compared to other unemployed...

The paper develops a scenario of an interaction between actual governmental active labor market programmes and econometric policy evaluations. It argues that this scenario could and indeed should be implemented. The paper shows also that realities in Switzerland and Germany are very different...