More caseworkers shorten unemployment durations and save costs: Results from a field experiment in an Austrian public employment office

Arbeitspapier

In a randomised controlled trial in Austria, lower caseloads in public employment offices led to more meetings of the unemployed with their caseworkers, more job offers, more program assignments, and more sanctions for noncompliance with job search requirements. More intensive counselling led to shorter unemployment episodes due to faster job entry, but also to more exits from the labour force in the two years following treatment. We find effects for different subgroups of unemployed. We find no effects on wages. A cost-benefit analysis suggests that lower caseloads not only shorten the duration of unemployment but are also cost-effective.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIFO Working Papers ; No. 647

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search ; Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies: Public Policy
• Subject: Active Labour Market Policy ; Public Employment Services ; Caseworkers ; Counseling ; Job Placement ; Field Experiment

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Böheim, René ; Eppel, Rainer ; Mahringer, Helmut
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO)
• (where): Vienna
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/261481
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET