Does 'Work for the Dole' Work?
Loading...
Citations
Altmetric:
Altmetric::
Associated Records
Authors
File Licence
Editors
Date
2004-07
Source Title
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Melbourne Authors
Affiliation
Economics and Commerce: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
Document Type
Preprint
Subject Code
Citation
Borland, Jeff and Tseng, Yi-Ping (2004) Does 'Work for the Dole' Work?.
Access Status
Open Access
DOI
Access URL
Open Access URL
Open Access at PMC
Linked Resource URL
NHMRC Grant Code
ARC Grant Code
Description
We are very grateful for assistance from the LDS group at the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS), particularly Shaun Burnham and Gerry Carey, and to Tony Hedditch from Centrelink for providing data on the phase Work for the Dole projects. We are also grateful for the opportunity to present this research at the 2002 DEWR Evaluation Workshop, for data provided to us by the Commonwealth Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, and for helpful discussions with Robert Lipp and Linda Richardson. The work has benefited from comments made at a FaCS seminar. The contents of the paper solely reflect the work and opinions of the authors, and cannot be in any manner attributed to the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services.
Abstract
This study examines the effect of a community-based work experience program - Work for the Dole (WfD) - on transitions out of unemployment in Australia. To evaluate the WfD program a quasi-experimental exact matching approach is applied. Justification for the matching approach is a 'natural experiment' - limits on WfD project funding - that it is argued constituted a source of random assignment to the program. Participation in the WfD program is found to be associated with a large and significant adverse effect on the likelihood of exiting unemployment payments. The main potential explanation is existence of a 'lock-in' effect whereby program participants reduce job search activity.
Notes
Terms of Use
Keywords
unemployment benefits