Reintegrating Older Long-Term Unemployed Workers: The Impact of Temporary Job Guarantees

Alexander Ahammer (), Martin Halla (), Pia Heckl and Rudolf Winter-Ebmer ()
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Alexander Ahammer: University of Linz
Martin Halla: Vienna University of Economics and Business
Pia Heckl: Ifo Institute for Economic Research
Rudolf Winter-Ebmer: Johannes Kepler University Linz

No 18322, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Long-term unemployment among older workers is particularly difficult to overcome. We study the impacts of a large-scale job guarantee program that offered up to two years of fully subsidized employment to long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 and above. Using a sharp age-based discontinuity in eligibility, we find that participation increased regular, unsubsidized employment by 43 percentage points two years after the program ended. The gains are driven by transitions into new firms and industries, rather than continued subsidized employment, and we find no evidence of displacement effects for non-participants or spillovers to family members. The program had no measurable short-run health effects.

Keywords: subsidized employment; temporary job guarantee; long-term unemployment; health status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I14 J08 J64 J78 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-12
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