TY - JOUR

T1 - The Effectiveness and Efficiency of Active Labour Market Policies in Poland

AU - Puhani, Patrick A.

AU - Steiner, Viktor

N1 - Funding Information: Financial support from the EU-Commission under the project ‘Unemployment During Economic Transition – Determinants, Socio-Economic Effects and Labour Market Policies’ is gratefuly acknowledged. We are indebted to Jan Witkowski, Central Statistical Office (GUS) and Warsaw School of Economics, without whom this research would not have been possible, for his cooperation and advice within this project. We also thank Florian Kraus and Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, University of Lodz, as well as Klaus F. Zimmermann, SELAPO, University of Munich, and participants of the SELAPO Ph.D. Seminar for helpful suggestions. In addition, we would like to thank two anonymous referees for very helpful comments on a previous version which have improved the paper considerably. All remaining errors are our own.

PY - 1997/10

Y1 - 1997/10

N2 - Following the predominance of macroeconomic stabilisation policies and passive income support schemes in the first phase of transition, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have now come to play a more important role in transition economies. This paper looks at the Polish experience and provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of ALMPs. We use the Polish Labour Force Survey of August 1994 in combination with its Supplement on the Evaluation of Labour Market Policies together with data on ALMP expenditure at the regional (voivodship) level. The macroeconometric analysis of the relationship between labour market flows and ALMP expenditure shows no significant effects. The microeconometric analysis reveals that ALMPs are not particularly well targeted at the problem groups in the labour market. That is, women and people with basic vocational education do not receive enough attention. As to the effectiveness of ALMPs, the paper shows that former participants cannot expect to find employment more easily than their peers who have been unemployed but have not been in a programme. Subjective evaluations of former participants also suggest that ALMPs, but especially works programmes, have not improved their chances to find a job.

AB - Following the predominance of macroeconomic stabilisation policies and passive income support schemes in the first phase of transition, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have now come to play a more important role in transition economies. This paper looks at the Polish experience and provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of ALMPs. We use the Polish Labour Force Survey of August 1994 in combination with its Supplement on the Evaluation of Labour Market Policies together with data on ALMP expenditure at the regional (voivodship) level. The macroeconometric analysis of the relationship between labour market flows and ALMP expenditure shows no significant effects. The microeconometric analysis reveals that ALMPs are not particularly well targeted at the problem groups in the labour market. That is, women and people with basic vocational education do not receive enough attention. As to the effectiveness of ALMPs, the paper shows that former participants cannot expect to find employment more easily than their peers who have been unemployed but have not been in a programme. Subjective evaluations of former participants also suggest that ALMPs, but especially works programmes, have not improved their chances to find a job.

KW - Active labour market policies

KW - Poland

KW - Unemployment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0031420521&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1023/A:1006897732006

DO - 10.1023/A:1006897732006

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0031420521

VL - 24

SP - 209

EP - 231

JO - EMPIRICA

JF - EMPIRICA

SN - 0340-8744

IS - 3

ER -