Active Labor Policy in Germany and Switzerland - a Confrontation (Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland Und Der Schweiz - Eine GegenüBerstellung)
University of St. Gallen, Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series No. 13-2006
63 Pages Posted: 5 Jun 2006
Date Written: May 2006
Abstract
The active labour market policies in Switzerland and Germany are compared. German and Swiss labour market policies have similar aims, instruments and experienced similar institutional reforms. In Switzerland, an informative administrative database for an evaluation of these policies was made available earlier. The evaluation studies for Switzerland are summarized. Positive effects are found particularly for temporary wage subsidies. These subsidies offer an incentive to accept lower paying jobs. Furthermore, the crucial roles of effect heterogeneity and programme allocation are discussed. By allocating individuals into those programmes with the highest expected benefits, unemployment could be reduced. Such a statistical targeting tool for selecting programmes has been implemented and tested in a pilot study in Switzerland. A similar system is currently developed in Germany. An informative database serves as the foundation for the evaluation and targeting of active labour market policies. Finally, the Swiss and German databases are described.
Keywords: Active labour market policies, evaluation, targeting, statistical treatment rules
JEL Classification: C21, J68
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation