[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/ifauwp/2019_025.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does job search assistance reduce unemployment? Experimental evidence on displacement effects and mechanisms

Author

Listed:
  • Cheung, Maria
  • Egebark, Johan

    (Swedish Public Employment Service)

  • Forslund, Anders

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

  • Laun, Lisa

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

  • Rödin, Magnus

    (http://www.ifau.se)

  • Vikström, Johan

    (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)

Abstract
This paper uses a large-scale two-level randomized experiment to study direct and displacement effects of job search assistance. Our findings show that the assistance reduces unemployment among the treated, but also creates substantial displacement leading to higher unemployment for the non-treated. By using detailed information on caseworker and job seeker behavior we show that vacancy referrals passed on from caseworkers to job seekers is the driving mechanism behind the positive direct effect. We also examine explanations for the displacement effect and show that displacement is not due to constrained resources, but arises in the labor market. A comparison between different meeting formats suggests that face-to-face meetings and distance meetings are more effective than group meetings. Despite the existence of displacement effects, when we incorporate our results into an equilibrium search model we find that a complete roll-out of the program would lead to lower unemployment and slightly reduced government spending.

Suggested Citation

  • Cheung, Maria & Egebark, Johan & Forslund, Anders & Laun, Lisa & Rödin, Magnus & Vikström, Johan, 2019. "Does job search assistance reduce unemployment? Experimental evidence on displacement effects and mechanisms," Working Paper Series 2019:25, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2019/wp-2019-25-does-job-search-assistance-reduce-unemployment.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerard J. van den Berg & Bas van der Klaauw, 2006. "Counseling And Monitoring Of Unemployed Workers: Theory And Evidence From A Controlled Social Experiment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 47(3), pages 895-936, August.
    2. Jonas Maibom & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2017. "Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 541-570, July.
    3. Fougère, Denis & Pradel, Jacqueline & Roger, Muriel, 2009. "Does the public employment service affect search effort and outcomes?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(7), pages 846-869, October.
    4. Marc Ferracci & Gr�gory Jolivet & Gerard J. van den Berg, 2014. "Evidence of Treatment Spillovers Within Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(5), pages 812-823, December.
    5. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00840901 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Alan Manning & Barbara Petrongolo, 2017. "How Local Are Labor Markets? Evidence from a Spatial Job Search Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 2877-2907, October.
    7. Bruno Crépon & Esther Duflo & Marc Gurgand & Roland Rathelot & Philippe Zamora, 2013. "Do Labor Market Policies have Displacement Effects? Evidence from a Clustered Randomized Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 531-580.
    8. James Albrecht & Gerard van den Berg & Susan Vroman, 2009. "The Aggregate Labor Market Effects of the Swedish Knowledge Lift Program," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(1), pages 129-146, January.
    9. David Card & Jochen Kluve & Andrea Weber, 2010. "Active Labour Market Policy Evaluations: A Meta-Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(548), pages 452-477, November.
    10. Gerard J van den Berg & Barbara Hofmann & Arne Uhlendorff, 2019. "Evaluating Vacancy Referrals and the Roles of Sanctions and Sickness Absence," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(624), pages 3292-3322.
    11. Cottier, Lionel & Flückiger, Yves & Kempeneers, Pierre & Lalive, Rafael, 2018. "Does Job Search Assistance Really Raise Employment?," IZA Discussion Papers 11766, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Joost Bollens & Bart Cockx, 2017. "Effectiveness of a job vacancy referral scheme," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    13. Rafael Lalive & Camille Landais & Josef Zweimüller, 2015. "Market Externalities of Large Unemployment Insurance Extension Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(12), pages 3564-3596, December.
    14. Per Engström & Patrik Hesselius & Bertil Holmlund, 2012. "Vacancy Referrals, Job Search, and the Duration of Unemployment: A Randomized Experiment," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 26(4), pages 419-435, December.
    15. Dana Rotz & Paul Burkander & Mary Grider & Kenneth Fortson & Linda Molinari & Elias Sanchez-Eppler & Lindsay Cattell, "undated". "Providing Public Workforce Services to Job Seekers: 30-Month Impact Findings on the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs, Technical Supplement," Mathematica Policy Research Reports db04b33db50a4d45824da5a65, Mathematica Policy Research.
    16. Ashenfelter, Orley & Ashmore, David & Deschenes, Olivier, 2005. "Do unemployment insurance recipients actively seek work? Evidence from randomized trials in four U.S. States," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 53-75.
    17. Arni, Patrick, 2015. "Opening the Blackbox: How Does Labor Market Policy Affect the Job Seekers' Behavior? A Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 9617, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Edward Miguel & Michael Kremer, 2004. "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 159-217, January.
    19. Pieter Gautier & Paul Muller & Bas van der Klaauw & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2018. "Estimating Equilibrium Effects of Job Search Assistance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1073-1125.
    20. Graversen, Brian Krogh & van Ours, Jan C., 2008. "Activating unemployed workers works; Experimental evidence from Denmark," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 308-310, August.
    21. Matz Dahlberg & Anders Forslund, 2005. "Direct Displacement Effects of Labour Market Programmes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(3), pages 475-494, September.
    22. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias & Costas Meghir & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Evaluating the Employment Impact of a Mandatory Job Search Program," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 569-606, June.
    23. Bruce D. Meyer, 1995. "Lessons from the U.S. Unemployment Insurance Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 91-131, March.
    24. Amanda Pallais, 2014. "Inefficient Hiring in Entry-Level Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(11), pages 3565-3599, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Albanese & Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe, 2022. "Long-Term Effects of Hiring Subsidies for Unemployed Youths—Beware of Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9972, CESifo.
    2. Vikström, Johan & Söderström, Martin & Cederlöf, Jonas, 2021. "What makes a good caseworker?," Working Paper Series 2021:9, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    3. Altmann, Steffen & Glenny, Anita Marie & Mahlstedt, Robert & Sebald, Alexander, 2022. "The Direct and Indirect Effects of Online Job Search Advice," IZA Discussion Papers 15830, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Forslund, Anders & Laun, Lisa & Vikström, Johan & Egebark, Johan & Rödin, Magnus & Cheung, Maria, 2020. "Implementation of a labor market program with more frequent meetings in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2020:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonas Maibom & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2017. "Experimental Evidence on the Effects of Early Meetings and Activation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(3), pages 541-570, July.
    2. Pieter Gautier & Paul Muller & Bas van der Klaauw & Michael Rosholm & Michael Svarer, 2018. "Estimating Equilibrium Effects of Job Search Assistance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(4), pages 1073-1125.
    3. Marco Caliendo & Steffen Künn & Robert Mahlstedt, 2022. "The Intended and Unintended Effects of Promoting Labor Market Mobility," CEPA Discussion Papers 42, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Forslund, Anders & Laun, Lisa & Vikström, Johan & Egebark, Johan & Rödin, Magnus & Cheung, Maria, 2020. "Implementation of a labor market program with more frequent meetings in Sweden," Working Paper Series 2020:22, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    5. Goulas, Eleftherios & Zervoyianni, Athina, 2018. "Active labour-market policies and output growth: Is there a causal relationship?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-14.
    6. Lombardi, Stefano & Skans, Oskar Nordström & Vikström, Johan, 2018. "Targeted wage subsidies and firm performance," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 33-45.
    7. Vikström, Johan & Rosholm, Michael & Svarer, Michael, 2013. "The effectiveness of active labor market policies: Evidence from a social experiment using non-parametric bounds," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 58-67.
    8. Joost Bollens & Bart Cockx, 2017. "Effectiveness of a job vacancy referral scheme," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Michèle Belot & Philipp Kircher & Paul Muller, 2019. "Providing Advice to Jobseekers at Low Cost: An Experimental Study on Online Advice," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 86(4), pages 1411-1447.
    10. Michael C. Knaus & Michael Lechner & Anthony Strittmatter, 2022. "Heterogeneous Employment Effects of Job Search Programs: A Machine Learning Approach," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(2), pages 597-636.
    11. Amelie Schiprowski, 2020. "The Role of Caseworkers in Unemployment Insurance: Evidence from Unplanned Absences," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(4), pages 1189-1225.
    12. Andrea Albanese & Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe, 2022. "Long-Term Effects of Hiring Subsidies for Unemployed Youths—Beware of Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9972, CESifo.
    13. Arni, Patrick & Schiprowski, Amelie, 2019. "Job search requirements, effort provision and labor market outcomes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 65-88.
    14. Ioana E. Marinescu, 2017. "Job search monitoring and assistance for the unemployed," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 380-380, August.
    15. Forslund, Anders, 2019. "Employment outcomes and policies in Sweden during recent decades," Working Paper Series 2019:15, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    16. Maibom, Jonas, 2021. "The Welfare Effects of Mandatory Reemployment Programs: Combining a Structural Model and Experimental Data," IZA Discussion Papers 14866, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Bernhard Boockmann & Tobias Brändle, 2019. "Coaching, Counseling, Case‐Working: Do They Help the Older Unemployed Out of Benefit Receipt and Back Into the Labor Market?," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 436-468, November.
    18. Bart Cockx & Muriel Dejemeppe & Andrey Launov & Bruno Van der Linden, 2018. "Imperfect Monitoring of Job Search: Structural Estimation and Policy Design," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 75-120.
    19. John A. List & Fatemeh Momeni & Yves Zenou, 2020. "The Social Side of Early Human Capital Formation: Using a Field Experiment to Estimate the Causal Impact of Neighborhoods," Working Papers 2020-187, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    20. List, John A. & Momeni, Fatemeh & Zenou, Yves, 2019. "Are Estimates of Early Education Programs Too Pessimistic? Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment that Causally Measures Neighbor Effects," Working Paper Series 1293, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    vacancy referrals; counseling; job search; randomized experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J68 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Public Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2019_025. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ali Ghooloo (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifagvse.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.