Estimating the Effect of Training on Employment and Unemployment Durations: Evidence From Experimental Data / John C. Ham, Robert J. LaLonde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ham, John C.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

LaLonde, Robert J.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3912.

NBER working paper series no. w3912

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Employment (Economic theory).

Unemployment--Econometric models.

Unemployment.

Women--Employment--United States--Economic aspects.

Women.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Estimating the Effect of Training on Employment and Unemployment Durations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.

Cambridge, Massachusetts : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1991.

Summary:

Using data from a social experiment, we estimate the impact of training on the duration of employment and unemployment spells for AFDC recipients. Although an experimental design eliminates the need to construct a comparison group for this analysis, simple comparisons between the average durations or the transition rates of treatments' and controls' employment and unemployment spells lead to biased estimates of the effects of training. We present and implement several econometric approaches that demonstrate the importance of and correct for these biases. For the training program studied in the paper, we find that it raised employment rates because employment durations increased. In contrast, training did not lead to shorter unemployment spells.

Notes:

Print version record

November 1991.