Is Labour Market Training a Curse for the Unemployed? Evidence from a Social Experiment

Michael Rosholm and Lars Skipper ()
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Lars Skipper: KORA - Danish Institute for Local and Regional Government Research

No 716, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the impact of classroom training programmes on individual unemployment rates in Denmark. In 1994 a social experiment was conducted, where unemployed applicants for labour market training were randomised into treatment and control groups. We formulate and estimate experimental impact estimators of the effect of treatment on the treated. The experimental data is polluted by the presence of no-shows and crossovers, which implies that traditional experimental estimators are biased. Therefore we formulate and estimate an endogenous variables model (using the randomisation indicator as a perfect exclusion restriction) and implement various matching estimators. We find – surprisingly – that classroom training significantly increases individual unemployment rates. We discuss some possible reasons for this surprising finding and some related policy issues.

Keywords: experimental and nonexperimental estimators; classroom training; programme evaluation; social experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J64 J68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2003-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

Published - published in: Journal of Applied Econometrics, 2009, 24 (2), 338-365.

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Journal Article: Is labour market training a curse for the unemployed? Evidence from a social experiment (2009)
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