Research 

We mailed brochures to 10,000 randomly chosen employed German workers who were eligible for a subsidized occupational training program called WeGebAU, informing them about the importance of skills-upgrading training in general and about WeGebAU in particular. Using survey and register data, we estimate effects of the informational brochure on awareness of the program, on take-up of WeGebAU and other training, and on subsequent employment. The brochure more than doubles awareness of the program. There are no effects on WeGebAU take-up, but participation in other (unsubsidized) training increases among employees aged under 45. Short-term labor market outcomes are not affected. 

The author analyzes the effects of further training subsidies for low-skilled employees on individual labor market outcomes in Germany. Using detailed administrative data, the author exploits cross-regional variation in the policy styles of local employment agencies to identify causal effects of program participation. Findings show that training subsidies significantly increase cumulative employment duration and earnings in the short run and middle run for compliers, that is, those workers who additionally participate due to a more generous policy style in their agency. These gains are particularly pronounced for certain subgroups, such as women. A rough cost-benefit analysis, however, suggests that the program overall is not beneficial for the public budget. 

Demographic change has increased the need for elderly care. Training unemployed workers might be one way to increase the supply of elderly care nurses. This study analyzes the effectiveness of subsidized training for unemployed individuals in the elderly care professions in Germany over 11.5 years. We find that short further training and long retraining courses significantly increase workers' long-term employment. As approximately 25% to 50% of trained nurses have permanent jobs in the care sector, we estimate that approximately 5% of all employed nurses are formerly trained unemployed workers. 

This paper evaluates how a reform relaxing regulations of the temporary help service sector in Germany affected job satisfaction of male temporary agency workers. We isolate the causal effect of this reform by combining a difference-in-difference and matching approach using rich survey data. We find that the regulatory change substantially decreased agency workers’ job satisfaction while leaving regular workers’ job satisfaction unchanged. Further analysis reveals that the negative effect on agency workers’ job satisfaction can be attributed to a decrease in wages and an increase in perceived job insecurity. These results are robust to the use of different specifications and placebo tests. 

We analyze the impact of subsidized training programs for older workers. We apply a dynamic matching approach using German registry data. We find that subsidized training improves the probability to remain in paid employment by approximately 2.5 percentage points in the 2 years following treatment. The impact on benefit claims is small and largely insignificant. Effects are more pronounced for part-time workers, for long-duration program participants, and for workers older than 55 years. The results suggest that the main driver of these outcomes is postponed retirement, potentially because of improved job satisfaction.