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Can income support for part-time workers serve as a stepping-stone to regular jobs? An application to young long-term unemployed women

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Abstract

This article investigates whether income support for low-paid part-time workers in Belgium increases the transition from unemployment to non-subsidised, ‘regular’ employment. Our analysis uses a sample of long-term unemployed young women. Observing their labour market histories from 1998 to 2001, we implement the ‘timing of events’ method to identify the treatment effect. Our results suggest that participation in the policy has a significantly positive effect on the transition to regular employment. Participation reduced the survivor rate in unemployment by 27% points 1 year after the start of the programme. The time spent in the programme did not affect the transition to regular employment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SHERPPA, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Bart Cockx

  2. IZA, Bonn, Germany

    Bart Cockx

  3. CESIfo, Munich, Germany

    Bart Cockx

  4. BETA, University of Strasbourg, 61 Avenue de la Forêt Noire, 67085, Strasbourg Cedex, France

    Stéphane Robin

  5. IRES, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Bart Cockx & Stéphane Robin

  6. Centre for European Economic Research, ZEW, L7, 1, 68161, Mannheim, Germany

    Christian Goebel

Authors
  1. Bart Cockx
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  2. Christian Goebel
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  3. Stéphane Robin
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Correspondence to Stéphane Robin.

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Cockx, B., Goebel, C. & Robin, S. Can income support for part-time workers serve as a stepping-stone to regular jobs? An application to young long-term unemployed women. Empir Econ 44, 189–229 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-010-0357-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-010-0357-8

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