This book argues that active labour market policies are necessary to improve the position of the unemployed but have so far performed relatively poorly. The contributing authors seek ways to improve active labour market policy and consider three means of doing so: improving the quality by better targeting and by better-designed measures, more efficient implementation and delivery, and better performance by benchmarking the various implementation agencies involved.

Most governments in today's market economies spend significant sums of money on labour market programmes. The declared aims of these programmes are to increase the re-employment chances of the unemployed. This book investigates which active labour market programmes in Poland are value for money and which are not. To this end, modern statistical methods are applied to both macro- and microeconomic data. It is shown that training programmes increase, whereas job subsidies and public works decrease the re-employment opportunities of the unemployed. In general, all active labour market policy effects are larger in absolute size for men than for women. By surveying previous studies in the field and outlining the major statistical approaches that are employed in the evaluation literature, the book can be of help to any student interested in programme evaluation irrespective of the paticular programme or country concerned.

Empirical measurement of impacts of active labour market programmes has started to become a central task of economic researchers. New improved econometric methods have been developed that will probably influence future empirical work in various other fields of economics as well. This volume contains a selection of original papers from leading experts, among them James J. Heckman, Noble Prize Winner 2000 in economics, addressing these econometric issues at the theoretical and empirical level. The theoretical part contains papers on tight bounds of average treatment effects, instrumental variables estimators, impact measurement with multiple programme options and statistical profiling. The empirical part provides the reader with econometric evaluations of active labour market programmes in Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Slovak Republic and Sweden.

Measures of Active Labor Market Policy - such as training, wage subsidies, public employment measures, and job search assistance - are widely used in European countries to combat unemployment. This study provides novel insight on this important policy issue by discussing the role of the European Commission's Employment Strategy, reviewing the experiences made in European states, and giving the first ever quantitative assessment of the existing cross-country evidence.

Active labor market policies (ALMPs) are found in almost all countries of the world but differ in amplitude, design, and implementation. Comprising an array of measures, ALMPs can take the form of special support for job searching, training and education for the unemployed, and various other subsidies and job creation activities. While providing a valuable overview of the nature of these policies, this book examines some of the pitfalls and challenges countries face when evaluating them. It also provides a policy framework for designing ALMPs that are permanent yet adaptable instruments to cope with changes linked to globalization. Contents Introduction Historical background of ALMPs Definition and functions of ALMPs Contribution of ALMPs to the objectives of employment creation, security in change, equity and poverty reduction Differences in the utilization of ALMPs: Developed, transition and developing countries Evaluation of ALMPs New trends in ALMPs Conclusions: A framework for the management of change Bibliography

This report uses rich administrative data from different registers in Finland to evaluate the impact of two types of training available to jobseekers: labour market training; and self-motivated training. Training outcomes are examined that go beyond the probability of employment and how different population groups are affected.

This report on Latvia is the sixth country study published in a series of reports looking into how policies connect people with jobs. It focuses on Latvia's long-term unemployed and those at risk of long-term unemployment.

For selected target groups, such as unemployed and disadvantaged youth, Christoph Ehlert demonstrates that flexible and well-targeted programmes significantly improve employment chances. To be effective, these programmes must combine individual coaching, classroom training and temporary work. Apart from the programmes, the organisational framework in which the programmes are allocated also influences the outcome. The author shows that the introduction of customer service centres, that streamlined the customers through the counselling and placement process, helped little in bringing unemployed back to work, while the introduction of action programmes even worsened the situation for the unemployed and job-seekers. Whereas the introduction of new placement software in German employment agencies led to an increase in regular employment and to more sustainable placements that exhibit longer tenures.