A Caseworker Like Me - Does The Similarity Between The Unemployed and Their Caseworkers Increase Job Placements?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Behncke, Stefanie; Froelich, Markus; Lechner, Michael
• 署名单位: IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW); Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02382.x
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 1430-1459
• 关键词: propensity-score; transition rate; SANCTIONS; duration; insurance; teachers; welfare; sample

摘要

This article examines whether the chances of job placements improve if the unemployed are counselled by caseworkers who belong to the same social group, defined by gender, age, education and nationality. Based on an unusually informative dataset, which links Swiss unemployed to their caseworkers, we find positive employment effects of about 3 percentage points if the caseworker and his unemployed client belong to the same social group. Coincidence in a single characteristic, e.g., same gender of caseworker and unemployed, does not lead to detectable effects on employment. These results, obtained by statistical matching methods, are confirmed by several robustness checks.