Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data

Miguel Baião; Isabel Guedes; Pedro Martins

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data

Miguel Baião^*, Isabel Guedes, Pedro Martins

Published in Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 12, Issue 1)

Received: 23 November 2023 Accepted: 21 December 2023 Published: 11 January 2024

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Abstract

Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.

Published in	Journal of Human Resource Management (Volume 12, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
Page(s)	1-16
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

ALMP, Long Run Effects, Policy Evaluation, Training, Unemployment

References

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APA Style

Baião, M., Guedes, I., Martins, P. (2024). Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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ACS Style

Baião, M.; Guedes, I.; Martins, P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2024, 12(1), 1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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AMA Style

Baião M, Guedes I, Martins P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J Hum Resour Manag. 2024;12(1):1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11,
  author = {Miguel Baião and Isabel Guedes and Pedro Martins},
  title = {Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {12},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-16},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  abstract = {Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data
AU  - Miguel Baião
AU  - Isabel Guedes
AU  - Pedro Martins
Y1  - 2024/01/11
PY  - 2024
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DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JO  - Journal of Human Resource Management
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-0715
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
AB  - Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.

VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  -

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Author Information

Miguel Baião

School of Economic and Organizational Sciences, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal; Research Centre in Economic and Organisational Sociology (SOCIUS) - Research in Social Sciences and Management (CSG), Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

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Isabel Guedes

Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Campus de Carcavelos, Carcavelos, Portugal

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Pedro Martins

Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Campus de Carcavelos, Carcavelos, Portugal

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APA Style

Baião, M., Guedes, I., Martins, P. (2024). Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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ACS Style

Baião, M.; Guedes, I.; Martins, P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 2024, 12(1), 1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

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AMA Style

Baião M, Guedes I, Martins P. Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data. J Hum Resour Manag. 2024;12(1):1-16. doi: 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11,
  author = {Miguel Baião and Isabel Guedes and Pedro Martins},
  title = {Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data},
  journal = {Journal of Human Resource Management},
  volume = {12},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-16},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jhrm.20241201.11},
  abstract = {Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.
},
 year = {2024}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Long-Term Evaluation of a Short Training Program for the Unemployed: Exploring Administrative Data
AU  - Miguel Baião
AU  - Isabel Guedes
AU  - Pedro Martins
Y1  - 2024/01/11
PY  - 2024
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
T2  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JF  - Journal of Human Resource Management
JO  - Journal of Human Resource Management
SP  - 1
EP  - 16
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2331-0715
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jhrm.20241201.11
AB  - Training programs can promote lifelong learning and facilitate the mobility of workers towards growing sectors. However, such interventions may require significant time investments from participants and financial investments for governments. Since most active labor market policies (ALMP) studies focus on short-run effects, consistently finding small or negative short-run effects and rarely evaluating if positive long-run effects occur, this study aims to surpass this gap. We evaluate both the short and long-run impact of a Portuguese short training program for the unemployed, launched in 2012, named Vida Ativa. We assess its sociological and economic effects on post program, unemployment duration and probability of recurrence. The study draws on four comprehensive administrative databases of the Portuguese Public Employment Services (IEFP), providing individual information over the period of December 2012 to October 2019. The method used is an OLS regression, and each (short and long run) effect is evaluated with different treatment variables and sample restrictions. We found that ALMP participation increases initial unemployment duration but decreases the re-unemployment probability. Furthermore, lock-in effects were found to decrease from the first to the third month and turn insignificant after that period. This result indicates that ALMP may be subject to important time trade-offs and that exclusively short-run analyses may significantly underestimate the effects of ALMP.

VL  - 12
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download