Lillit Ottosson

I am a researcher at the Swedish Institute of Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University. I am also affiliated with the Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU) and Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS), and active at Uppsala Immigration Lab. 

My main research interests are labor economics and applied microeconomics. In particular, I study how active labor market policies and income support programs affect individual labor market and health outcomes. 

I obtained my PhD in Economics at Uppsala University in 2022. 

You can reach me at lillit.ottosson@sofi.su.se. 

CV

Working papers

Individualized benefits and access to active labor market programs boost refugee women’s economic integration (with Cristina Bratu and Linna Martén) Revise & resubmit Review of Economics and Statistics

The economic and social integration of refugees is a key policy concern. The situation of refugee women is particularly challenging, as many never enter the labor force. We study a reform of the Swedish integration program that aimed to tackle this issue by increasing women’s participation in and access to active labor market programs. Using administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, we show that the reform resulted in lasting improvements in women’s earnings and employment. We find no effects for men. Additional analyses suggest that individualizing benefits and early registration with the Public Employment Service are key mechanisms.

Working paper: SOFI Working Paper 3/2023


To work or not to work? The effects of temporary public employment on future employment and benefits (with Eva Mörk and Ulrika Vikman)

We evaluate a temporary public sector employment program targeted at individuals with weak labor market attachment, applying dynamic inverse probability weighting to account for dynamic selection. We show that the program is successful in increasing employment and reducing social assistance. However, being at a regular workplace seems crucial: we find negative employment effects for participants employed at a workplace created especially for the purpose. The decrease in social assistance is to some extent countered by an increase in the share receiving unemployment insurance benefits, indicating that municipalities are able to shift costs from the local to the central budget.

Working paper: IZA Discussion Paper No. 15071 (2022); IFAU Working Paper 2021:21

Media coverage: Radio Sweden


Work in progress

Supporting labor market integration by lowering language barriers (with Ulrika Vikman)

Social assistance generosity and labor market outcomes