Effectiveness of a job vacancy referral scheme

Joost Bollens () and Bart Cockx
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Joost Bollens: Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding (VDAB)

IZA Journal of Labor Policy, 2017, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Abstract ᅟ The public employment service (PES) makes use in many countries of vacancy referrals as to facilitate the matching between unemployed workers and vacancies. Based on a “timing-of-events” approach to control for selective participation, this study evaluates whether this policy instrument enhanced the transition to employment in Flanders (region in northern Belgium). Three referral types are distinguished: (1) referrals actively matched by a caseworker by phone or by e-mail; (2) automatic referrals, in which the match is accomplished by a software without caseworker intervention; and (3) invitations, in which the referral is transmitted to the unemployed in a meeting with a caseworker. All three referral instruments are found to be effective, even many months after the transmission of the referral: the first and third referral types more than triples, respectively, double the transition rate to employment both in short- and long-run, while the automatic referrals enhance this rate by 50% in the first 2 months and double it in the long-run. JEL Classification C41, J63, J64, J65, J68

Keywords: Vacancy referral; Active labor market policy; Evaluation; Timing-of-events method; Unemployed; Transition to employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1186/s40173-017-0094-0

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