Home Work: Exploring the Labor Market Effects of Subsidizing Domestic Services (with Ilan Tojerow), Labour Economics, 2024, vol. 90.
This paper analyzes subsidies for the domestic services sector, an increasingly popular policy to create employment opportunities for low-skilled workers. Using Belgian administrative data, a differences-in-differences approach, and a shift-share instrumental variable, we estimate the local effects of the policy in targeted industries as well as overall effects on the labor market. We find that domestic service subsidies can increase female employment in the subsidized industries as well as the overall employment rate. This increase in employment is primarily driven by an increase in (formal) labor market participation and, to a lesser extent, a reduction in the rate of participation in unemployment insurance and in other social welfare programs. We also find that these subsidies can lead to an increase in the rate of work incapacity, likely due to the fact they broaden the population that can access the social safety net.
[Featured in La Libre and this short video]
Previously circulated as IZA Discussion Paper No. 13544, entitled "Subsidizing Domestic Services as a Tool to Fight Unemployment: Effectiveness and Hidden Costs"
The Consequences of Job Search Monitoring for the Long-Term Unemployed: Disability Instead of Employment? (with Octave De Brouwer and Ilan Tojerow), Journal of Public Economics, 2023, volume 224.
We study the effect of job search monitoring (JSM) on individual labor market outcomes of the long-term unemployed. Exploiting the implementation of a JSM program targeted at jobseekers under the age of 49, we set up a regression discontinuity design that credibly identifies the program’s causal effect on unemployment, employment, and disability insurance (DI) participation and participation in other social welfare programs within a three-year period. We find that JSM increases exits from unemployment to DI without affecting transitions into employment or other social welfare programs. We further find that the effect of JSM on DI materializes before any sanction can be imposed and monitored individuals are still 10 percentage points more likely to be on DI three years after the start of monitoring. Ultimately, exploring fiscal implications reveals that the decrease in unemployment transfers as a result of JSM is entirely offset by the increase in DI transfers.
Previously circulated as IZA Discussion Paper No. 12304, entitled "The Unexpected Consequences of Job Search Monitoring: Disability Instead of Employment?"
Closing the Mismatch: Encouraging Jobseekers to Reskill for Shortage Occupations, IZA Disucssion Paper No. 17731 (with Ilan Tojerow)
We partner with a Public Employment Service to explore whether more jobseekers can be encouraged to reskill for occupations that are in shortage. We implement a large-scale field experiment in which 100,000 recently unemployed jobseekers receive information about shortage occupations and training opportunities. Treated jobseekers become more likely to search for a job in a shortage occupation and to enrol in trainings. However, the increase in training enrolment is driven by transversal trainings rather than occupational trainings. Ultimately, these changes in training participation and job search behaviour do not allow to foster entry into employment. Our findings suggest that there is room to steer unemployed jobseekers toward shortage occupations, potentially through trainings, but it remains unclear how to do so effectively.
"Long-term effects of a housing policy reform", with Anne Gielen, Olivier Marie and Tommaso Tulkens
This project investigates the effects of the “Rotterdam Wet”, a Dutch policy that aims at improving the livability in some impoverished neighborhoods by temporarily stopping the influx of disadvantaged individuals. It allows municipalities to deny access to public housing in targeted areas to individuals with certain characteristics deemed undesirable (e.g., those without income from work or with a criminal record). Using rich administrative data, we will estimate the effects of the policy on neighborhood livability, as well as effects on the socio-economic outcomes of directly and indirectly affected individuals.
"Understanding Reskilling Decisions to Address Mismatch Unemployment", with Benjamine Dejardin, Alexia Delfino, Raffaella Sadun, and Ilan Tojerow [Data collection in progress]
This project investigates whether jobseekers are willing to reskill and, if so, what this decision depends on. We will explore this question with a discrete choice experiment implemented with the Public Employment Service (PES) operating inWallonia, Belgium. Using responses from actual jobseekers, we will explore their willingness to enroll in demand-driven occupational training programs, assess their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for different training features, and compare these preferences with those for job-related characteristics.
"Finding the Perfect Employment Fit: Mismatch Unemployment and Occupational Training Programs", with Benjamine Dejardin and Ilan Tojerow
This project aims at (i) developing a tool that predicts which jobseekers could most benefit from given training programs, and (ii) studying how to best encourage individuals to enroll in these training programs.