In the late 1990s, Switzerland introduced an ambitious active labour market policy (ALMP) encompassing several programmes. We evaluate their effects on the individual employment probability using unusually informative data from administrative records. Using a matching estimator for multiple programmes, we find positive effects for one particular programme unique to the Swiss ALMP. It consists of a wage subsidy for temporary jobs in the regular labour market that would otherwise not be taken up by the unemployed. We also find negative effects for traditional employment programmes operated in sheltered labour markets. For training courses, the results are mixed.

This paper presents evidence on income-related inequalities in self-assessed health in nine industrialized countries. Health interview survey data were used to construct concentration curves of self-assessed health, measured as a latent variable. Inequalities in health favoured the higher income groups and were statistically significant in all countries. Inequalities were particularly high in the United States and the United Kingdom. Amongst other European countries, Sweden, Finland and the former East Germany had the lowest inequality. Across countries, a strong association was found between inequalities in health and inequalities in income.

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