Do Disadvantaged Young Adults Benefit Less from Social Investment? Studying Matthew Effects in Activation Measures

Abstract

In Germany, social investment can be crucial for disadvantaged young adults, as intergenerational mobility is low and credentials are decisive for employment. However, the literature on policy implementation calls attention to ‘Matthew effects’, by which the most disadvantaged often have the least access to social investment. We contribute to ongoing research on Matthew effects by examining whether the worst-off among young German welfare recipients are assigned to active labour market policy measures that are more advantageous or less advantageous. Findings for a register sample of 20–22 year olds in 2014 support hypotheses that those with the lowest education and employment experience participate less often in the most advantageous measures; particularly in firm-based upskilling and employment assistance, and more often in measures that proved to be not as beneficial, such as workfare programmes. On a positive note, welfare experience during adolescence as an indicator of low socio-economic status in the family of origin does not additionally affect access to social investment policy measures.

What, for whom, and under what circumstances: Do activation policies increase youth employment in the EU?

“…Case-based studies exploring the dynamics of programme design and implementation report a range of unequal distributive effects of ALMPs (Hora and Sirovátka, 2020; Im and Shin, 2022; Knize et al, 2021). Scholars highlight how ALMP interventions can paradoxically favour high- and middle-class youth (that is, the Matthew effect) (see Bonoli et al, 2017), raising barriers to access or hindering participation for specific disadvantaged subgroups.…”