<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper aims to estimate the effect of an institutional training program on participants' chances of finding a job, using a rich dataset which comes from the official records of the Employment Service of Slovenia and taking into account the potential bias due to the existence of unobserved confounding factors. To deal with these selection biases, three methods are implemented in a comparative perspective: (1) instrumental variable (IV) regression; (2) Heckman's two-stage approach and (3) propensity score matching. This paper underlines important divergences between the results of parametric and non-parametric estimators. Some of the results, however, show the impact of the institutional training program on participants' chances of finding a job, especially in the short run. In the long run, however, the results are not so obvious.</p></abstract>

This paper aims to estimate the effect of an institutional training program on participants' chances of finding a job, using a rich dataset which comes from the official records of the Employment Service of Slovenia and taking into account the potential bias due to the existence of unobserved confounding factors. To deal with these selection biases, three methods are implemented in a comparative perspective: (1) instrumental variable (IV) regression; (2) Heckman's two-stage approach and (3) propensity score matching. This paper underlines important divergences between the results of parametric and non-parametric estimators. Some of the results, however, show the impact of the institutional training program on participants' chances of finding a job, especially in the short run. In the long run, however, the results are not so obvious.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Institutional Training Program in Slovenia: A Comparison of Methods

Higher Education Centre Novo mesto, School of Business and Management, Slovenia

South East European Journal of Economics and Business

This paper aims to estimate the effect of an institutional training program on participants' chances of finding a job, using a rich dataset which comes from...

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Institutional Training Program in Slovenia: A Comparison of Methods

Published Online: Jul 26, 2012

Page range: 43 - 51

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10033-012-0004-8

Keywords
active employment policies, evaluation, institutional training program, IV and Heckman models, propensity score matching, Slovenia

This content is open access.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Institutional Training Program in Slovenia: A Comparison of Methods

Published Online: Jul 26, 2012

Page range: 43 - 51

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10033-012-0004-8

Keywordsactive employment policies, evaluation, institutional training program, IV and Heckman models, propensity score matching, Slovenia

This content is open access.

Keywords
active employment policies, evaluation, institutional training program, IV and Heckman models, propensity score matching, Slovenia