TY - JOUR

T1 - Employment effects of active labor market programs for sick-listed workers

AU - Holm, Anders

AU - Høgelund, Jan

AU - Gørtz, Mette

AU - Storck Rasmussen, Kristin

AU - Sofie Bøje Houlberg, Helle

PY - 2017/3

Y1 - 2017/3

N2 - We use register data of 88,948 sick-listed workers in Denmark over the period 2008–2011 to investigate the effect of active labor market programs on the duration until returning to non-subsidized employment and the duration of this employment. To identify causal treatment effects, we exploit over-time variation in the use of active labor market programs in 98 job centers and time-to- event. We find that ordinary education and subsidized job training have significant positive employment effects. Subsidized job training has a large, positive effect on the transition into employment but no effect on the subsequent employment duration. In contrast, ordinary education has a positive effect on employment duration but no effect on the transition into employment. The latter effect is the result of two opposing effects, a large positive effect of having completed education and a large negative lock-in effect, with low re-employment chances during program participation.

AB - We use register data of 88,948 sick-listed workers in Denmark over the period 2008–2011 to investigate the effect of active labor market programs on the duration until returning to non-subsidized employment and the duration of this employment. To identify causal treatment effects, we exploit over-time variation in the use of active labor market programs in 98 job centers and time-to- event. We find that ordinary education and subsidized job training have significant positive employment effects. Subsidized job training has a large, positive effect on the transition into employment but no effect on the subsequent employment duration. In contrast, ordinary education has a positive effect on employment duration but no effect on the transition into employment. The latter effect is the result of two opposing effects, a large positive effect of having completed education and a large negative lock-in effect, with low re-employment chances during program participation.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Active labor market programs

KW - Effect evaluation

KW - Employment

KW - Hazard rate model

KW - Sick leave

KW - Return to work

U2 - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.01.006

DO - 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.01.006

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28182999

VL - 52

SP - 33

EP - 44

JO - Journal of Health Economics

JF - Journal of Health Economics

SN - 0167-6296

ER -