Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Working Paper Series, Center for Labor Studies,
Uppsala University, Department of Economics
No 2012:8: Workfare for the old and long-term unemployed
Helge Bennmarker (), Oskar Nordström Skans () and Ulrika Vikman ()
Additional contact information
Helge Bennmarker: IFAU, Postal: Kyrkogårdsgatan 6, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Oskar Nordström Skans: Uppsala Center for Labor Studies, Postal: Department of Economics, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Ulrika Vikman: Uppsala Center for Labor Studies, Postal: Department of Economics, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 513, SE-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden
Abstract: We estimate the effects of conditioning benefits on program participation among older long-term unemployed workers. We exploit a Swedish reform which reduced UI duration from 90 to 60 weeks for a group of older unemployed workers in a setting where workers who ex-hausted their benefits received unchanged transfers if they agreed to participate in a work practice program. Our results show that job finding increased as a result of the shorter duration of passive benefits. The time profile of the job-finding effects suggests that the effects are due to deterrence effects during the program-entry phase. We find no evidence of wage reductions, suggesting that the increased job-finding rate was driven by increased search intensity rather than lower reservation wages.
Keywords: Activation; program evaluation; UI; duration
34 pages, April 11, 2012
Full text files
136566_20128.pdf
- Published as
- Helge Bennmarker, Oskar Nordström Skans and Ulrika Vikman, (2013), 'Workfare for the old and long-term unemployed', Labour Economics, vol 25, pages 25-34
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