How Effective Are Hiring Subsidies to Reduce Long-Term Unemployment among Prime-Aged Jobseekers? Evidence from Belgium

Arbeitspapier

Hiring subsidies are widely used to create (stable) employment for the long-term unemployed. This paper exploits the abolition of a hiring subsidy targeted at long-term unemployed jobseekers over 45 years of age in Belgium to evaluate its effectiveness in the short and medium run. Based on a triple difference methodology the hiring subsidy is shown to increase the job finding rate by 13% without any evidence of spill-over effects. This effect is driven by a positive effect on individuals with at least a bachelor's degree. However, the hiring subsidy mainly created temporary short-lived employment: eligible jobseekers were not more likely to find employment that lasted at least twelve consecutive months than ineligible jobseekers.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14767

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Taxation and Subsidies: Incidence ; Labor Economics Policies ; Demographic Economics: Public Policy ; Labor Demand ; Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Public Policy ; Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search ; Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings ; Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies: Public Policy
• Subject: hiring subsidies ; long-term unemployment ; prime-aged jobseekers ; triple difference ; temporary help agencies

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Desiere, Sam ; Cockx, Bart
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2021

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/250428
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET