More money, more effect? Employment effects of job search programs in Veneto

Abstract

Despite being widely regarded as effective labor market interventions, the impact of job search programs on employment remains contested. Recent research challenges the assumption that the intensity of such programs is directly related with its effectiveness. We evaluate the effects of two treatments of an Italian active labour market program called Assegno per il Lavoro. Each intervention is made up of a voucher to fund job search assistance and a performance-based payment related to job search brokerage. Participants are assigned to a certain group with a certain treatment endowment that is increasing in function of a scoring variable. Leveraging this design, we applied a regression discontinuity analysis to estimate effects on the employment quantity and on the employment quality. We found null effects on the average of worked days for the two treatment comparisons, with transient small effects during the first year for the high endowment. Significant increases of approximately one month were observed at the median of the distribution for certain semesters, but later the effects fade away. This is the first paper studying the effect of the intensity of job search actions on employment in a European context. The main policy implication is a shift from a focus on intensity to a focus on other design elements.