Labor Market Policy consists of passive measures, which provide income support for unemployed individuals, and of Active Labor Market Policy (ALMP), which provides measures like job search assistance, labor market training, wage subsidies in the private sector, and direct job creation in the public sector. In many European countries, the big increase in unemployment over the last decades led to a shift of government spending from the passive insurance measures to active programs, which are seen as an important element in the effort to combat unemployment. In this project we plan to study labor market policies in Austria from different perspectives. On the one hand, we concentrate on the supply side and evaluate effects of passive and active labor market policy on unemployed workers and their return to employment. Second, we also investigate the demand side of the labor market and study the firms’ reactions to the institutional regulations defined by labor market policy. The Austrian social security database provides an ideal framework for this analysis. Given that we have the universe of private sector employment and firms over a long horizon plus the information on the exact timing of all individual participation in ALMP programs, we can trace discontinuities in the institutional regulations; both over time and across social groups and so get highly precise estimates of policy effects. This transparent research design makes the research output interesting for an international audience.

Project Leader

		Weber, Andrea
		University of Mannheim
		Labor Market Policy
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Project Members

		Fink, Martina
		University of Linz
		Labor Market Policy
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		Hofer, Helmut
		IHS Vienna
		Labor Market Policy
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		Segalla, Esther
		ÖNB
		Labor Market Policy
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		Saygin, Perihan
		University of Mannheim
		Labor Market Policy
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		Weynandt, Michèle
		University of Mannheim
		Labor Market Policy
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		Zulehner, Christine
		University of Linz
		Labor Market Policy
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Publications