Evaluating Job Training in Two Chinese Cities

Benu Bidani (), Niels-Hugo (Hugo) Blunch, Chor-Ching Goh () and Christopher O'Leary
Additional contact information
Benu Bidani: World Bank

No 05-111, Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract: Recent years have seen a surge in the evidence on the impacts of active labor market programs for numerous countries. However, little evidence has been presented on the effectiveness of such programs in China. Recent economic reforms, associated massive lay-offs, and accompanying public retraining programs make China fertile ground for rigorous impact evaluations. This study evaluates retraining programs for laid-off workers in the cities of Shenyang and Wuhan using a comparison group design. To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of its kind in China. The evidence suggests that retraining helped workers find jobs in Wuhan, but had little effect in Shenyang. However, in terms of earnings impacts, retraining appears to have increased earnings in Shenyang but not in Wuhan. The study raises questions about the overall effectiveness of retraining expenditures, and it offers some directions for policymakers about future interventions to help laid-off workers.

Keywords: Active labor market programs; job training; impact evaluation; propensity score matching; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-sea and nep-tra
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://research.upjohn.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?art ... ext=up_workingpapers (application/pdf)
This material is copyrighted. Permission is required to reproduce any or all parts.

Related works:
Chapter: Evaluating job training in two Chinese cities (2009)
Journal Article: Evaluating job training in two Chinese cities (2009)
Working Paper: Evaluating Job Training in Two Chinese Cities
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:upj:weupjo:05-111

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Upjohn Working Papers from W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research 300 S. Westnedge Ave. Kalamazoo, MI 49007 USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().