Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP6267
Authors: Michael Lechner; Stephan Wiehler
Abstract: This paper investigates active labour market programs in Austria with a special emphasis on male-female effect heterogeneity. On average, we find only small effects, if any, for most of the programs. A crucial advantage of the large and informative administrative data we use is that it provides records about pregnancies and times of parental leave, in addition to the information that can typically be found in European administrative data sources used for evaluating active labour market policies. We show that these variables play a key role in removing selection bias and defining outcome variables which may explain why other similar studies found such programs to be more effective for women than for men. In particular for younger women a key effect of the programs is to reduce or postpone pregnancies and to increase the attachment to the labour force. After taking into account gender specific selection effects and the effects of the programs on pregnancies, gender differences (almost) disappear.
Keywords: active labour market policy; matching estimation; panel data; program evaluation
JEL Codes: J68
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Participation in active labor market programs (J68) | Reduces or postpones pregnancies among women (J13) |
| Reduces or postpones pregnancies among women (J13) | Increases labor force attachment (J29) |
| Participation in active labor market programs (J68) | Increases employment rates for women (J21) |
| Selection effects and impact of programs on pregnancies (J13) | Diminish gender differences in employment outcomes (J79) |
| Participation in active labor market programs (J68) | Negligible differences in employment outcomes between genders (J79) |
| Qualification measures for male participants (C90) | Increased unemployment rates (J64) |