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Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data

Received: 23 November 2023     Accepted: 21 December 2023     Published: 11 January 2024
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Abstract

Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 12, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
Page(s) 1-16
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

ALMP, Long Run Effects, Policy Evaluation, Training, Unemployment

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Baião, M., Guedes, I., Martins, P. (2024). Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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    Baião, M.; Guedes, I.; Martins, P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2024, 12(1), 1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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    AMA Style

    Baião M, Guedes I, Martins P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J Hum Resour Manag. 2024;12(1):1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11,
      author = {Miguel Baião and Isabel Guedes and Pedro Martins},
      title = {Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data},
      journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
      volume = {12},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-16},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20241201.11},
      abstract = {Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

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    AB  - Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.
    
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Author Information
  • School of Economic and Organizational Sciences, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal; Research Centre in Economic and Organisational Sociology (SOCIUS) - Research in Social Sciences and Management (CSG), Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

  • Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Campus de Carcavelos, Carcavelos, Portugal

  • Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Campus de Carcavelos, Carcavelos, Portugal

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