How effective are hiring subsidies in reducing long-term unemployment among prime-aged jobseekers? Evidence from Belgium

Hiring subsidies are widely used to create (stable) employment for the long-term unemployed. This paper exploits the abolition of a hiring subsidy targeted at long-term unemployed jobseekers older than 45 years of age in Belgium to evaluate its effectiveness in the short and medium run. Based on a triple-difference methodology, the hiring subsidy is shown to increase the job-finding rate by 13% without any evidence of spillover effects. This effect is driven by a positive effect on individuals with at least a bachelor's degree. However, the hiring subsidy mainly creates temporary short-lived e... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Desiere Sam
Cockx Bart
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 2-28 (2022)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Sciendo
Schlagwörter: hiring subsidies / long-term unemployment / prime-aged jobseekers / triple difference / temporary help agencies / h22 / j08 / j18 / j23 / j38 / j64 / j65 / j68 / Labor policy. Labor and the state / HD7795-8027
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26613704
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.2478/izajolp-2022-0003

Hiring subsidies are widely used to create (stable) employment for the long-term unemployed. This paper exploits the abolition of a hiring subsidy targeted at long-term unemployed jobseekers older than 45 years of age in Belgium to evaluate its effectiveness in the short and medium run. Based on a triple-difference methodology, the hiring subsidy is shown to increase the job-finding rate by 13% without any evidence of spillover effects. This effect is driven by a positive effect on individuals with at least a bachelor's degree. However, the hiring subsidy mainly creates temporary short-lived employment: eligible jobseekers are not more likely to find employment that lasts at least 12 consecutive months compared with ineligible jobseekers.