Kids or Courses? Gender Differences in the Effects of Active Labor Market Policies

University of St. Gallen Department of Economics Discussion Paper No. 2007-08

37 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2007

See all articles by Michael Lechner

Michael Lechner

University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research

Stephan Wiehler

University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 2007

Abstract

This paper investigates active labor market programs in Austria with a special emphasis on male-female effect heterogeneity. On average, we find only small effects, if any, for most of the programs. A crucial advantage of the large and informative administrative data we use is that it provides records about pregnancies and times of parental leave, in addition to the information that can typically be found in European administrative data sources used for evaluating active labour market policies. We show that these variables play a key role in removing selection bias and defining outcome variables which may explain why other similar studies found such programs to be more effective for women than for men. In particular for younger women a key effect of the programs is to reduce or postpone pregnancies and to increase the attachment to the labor force. After taking into account gender specific selection effects and the effects of the programs on pregnancies, gender differences (almost)disappear.

Keywords: Active Labor market policy, matching estimation, program evaluation, panel data

JEL Classification: J68

Suggested Citation

Lechner, Michael and Wiehler, Stephan, Kids or Courses? Gender Differences in the Effects of Active Labor Market Policies (April 2007). University of St. Gallen Department of Economics Discussion Paper No. 2007-08, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=981323 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.981323

Michael Lechner (Contact Author)

University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research ( email )

Varnbuelstrasse 14
St. Gallen, 9000
Switzerland
+41 71 224 2320 (Phone)

Stephan Wiehler

University of St. Gallen - Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research ( email )

Dufourstr. 48
St. Gallen, 9000
Switzerland

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
81
Abstract Views
670
Rank
320,710
PlumX Metrics