Using population-level administrative data, we study labor market externalities stemming from age-specific employment protection legislation (EPL) targeted towards older workers. Our results show no economically meaningful overall effects of the EPL on employment or earnings of either men or...

Social cohesion and a sustainable labour market remain the aims of sustainable development policy. However, income inequalities and labour market policies are more often separately analysed. To fill the identified research gap, our article presents the results of an analysis of interactions...

Many countries use job-retention schemes, such as short-time work (STW), to stabilize the labor market during economic downturns. While these schemes might prevent unemployment (UE) and its adverse effects on workers, STW could also deter workers from moving to more productive firms, thereby...

This paper evaluates EU Cohesion Policy interventions during 2014-2020 using regression discontinuity design (RDD), exploiting funding thresholds at 75 and 90 percent of EU average GDP per capita across 281 NUTS-2 regions. The analysis examines nominal and real GDP per capita growth, GDP per...

Can employer-side wage subsidies increase hiring women in low female labor force participation settings? This paper tests this using a randomized experiment with 1,227 Pakistani firms on a national jobs platform. Treatment firms were offered a six-month wage subsidy determined via the...

This paper studies how employment subsidies for start-ups shape their performance. We exploit an unexpected policy reform in Belgium that permanently exempted start-ups hiring their first employee from payroll taxes for that employee. Using firm-level administrative data and a...

This paper studies how employment subsidies for start-ups shape their performance. We exploit an unexpected policy reform in Belgium that permanently exempted start-ups hiring their first employee from payroll taxes for that employee. Using firm-level administrative data and a...

This paper studies the causal impact of language skills on human capital accumulation, labor market outcomes, and job characteristics of childhood immigrants across European countries. Using PIAAC data, we adopt an instrumental variable strategy based on the critical age hypothesis and...

One of the main arguments for implementing public works programmes (PWPs) instead of other social protection schemes such as cash transfers is that the assets created through these programmes themselves can generate medium- to long-term benefits. This is particularly important as the costs for...

This paper examines the welfare implications of job retention schemes, where governments subsidize employers to preserve jobs during downturns. Using EU microdata from 2003 to 2018, we show that such schemes are associated with lower job separation rates, especially among lower-productivity...

The demand and supply of new skills—especially in IT and AI—are reshaping labor markets, impacting wages and hiring. About one in ten job vacancies in advanced economies demands at least one new skill, often appearing first in the United States. The incidence is about half in emerging...

We find a substantial and long-lasting positive effect of the introduction of regional minimum wages on training incidence and intensity. We apply a stacked difference-in-differences estimation to identify the dynamic effect of high minimum wages introduced in several Swiss cantons between 2018...

This study provides an assessment of Ukraine’s transport workforce and skills landscape during a period of profound change. As maritime and air routes remain suspended, road freight, road passenger, and urban public transport have become the backbone of domestic and international mobility, and...

This paper studies how employment subsidies for start-ups shape their performance. We exploit an unexpected policy reform in Belgium that permanently exempted start-ups hiring their first employee from payroll taxes for that employee. Using firm-level administrative data and a...

This study estimates the effects of an employment programme for disadvantaged unemployed individuals. The programme emphasized on-the-job training and contracting the unemployed for a few paid work hours as a stepping stone into the labour market. Evaluated through a randomised controlled trial,...

Active labor market programs targeted at older unemployed workers are often believed to be ineffective. We exploit a large-scale randomized experiment involving approximately 50,000 older unemployed workers to evaluate an intensive job search assistance program that focuses on exploiting the...

Evolving from post-independence emergency relief to a diverse range of programmes addressing poverty, food insecurity, and lifecycle vulnerabilities, Bangladesh has made significant progress in social protection provision over the years. This paper critically examines the evolution, coverage,...

This paper examines the impact of an internship program in Argentina (Programa Primer Paso; PPP) on the formal employment trajectories of people with disabilities (PwD). Using administrative data from 2002 to 2023 and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we estimate that program...

Adoption of AI has accelerated in Europe, especially after 2022. To adopt AI, firms need employees with data and AI skills, but small firms in particular lack the necessary expertise. AI shifts skill demand in exposed occupations, requiring AI skills combined with judgment and decision-making...

Long-term unemployment among older workers is particularly difficult to overcome. We study the impacts of a large-scale job guarantee program that offered up to two years of fully subsidized employment to long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 and above. Using a sharp age-based discontinuity...

Colombia has a complex legal framework meant to protect the population against basic risks through a combination of contributory and non-contributory social insurance. The population is almost perfectly split between them, with eligibility to participate in the latter determined by poverty....

The job guarantee (JG) has long been theorized as a cyclical stabilizer, a buffer stock of publicly employed workers that expands in downturns and contracts in booms. That framing was useful but is no longer sufficient. This paper reframes the JG as a permanent structural reform - a new labor...

Integration agreements (IA) outline the efforts the jobseeker should undertake to find employment and specify the services that the caseworker would provide to assist them in their job search. The agreements include a declaration of legal consequences, and punitive benefit sanctions could be...

Long-term unemployment among older workers is particularly difficult to overcome. We study the impacts of a large-scale job guarantee program that offered up to two years of fully subsidized employment to long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 and above. Using a sharp age-based discontinuity...

The European Commission declared 2022 the "European Year of Youth." Apart from the obvious aim to enhance its visibility and political legitimacy, the Commission responded to the fact that COVID-19 badly affected especially young people, manifested in the rise of youth unemployment and of youth...

This paper explores post-pandemic developments and analyses post-COVID matching dynamics in the Nordic labour markets. It also discusses the role of institutions and the policies implemented to address labour market mismatch in the region. The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a recession, with a...

The World Bank has been working closely with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to develop a system-level skills strategy. The MHRSD first started by establishing a Skills and Training Deputyship andallocated resources to start...

This paper proposes a dynamic regulatory framework that adapts to the evolving structural transformation of economies across sectoral, spatial, occupational, and organizational dimensions. It highlights how well-designed and appropriately enforced labor and product market regulations (LMRs and...