EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF FRENCH EMPLOYMENT POLICIES ON INDIVIDUAL LABOR-MARKET HISTORIES

This paper deals with the evaluation of some public employment policie s set up in France during the 1980's to improve the labour market pros pects of unskilled young workers. The evaluation implemented in this p aper is restricted to the impact of such public measures on durations and outcomes of subsequent spells of unemployment and employment. The econometric study is conducted with non-experimental longitudinal micr odata recording individual labour market histories. A particular atten tion is paid to the differential effects of various types of measures, according to the educational level of recipients. Programmes involvin g a higher level of on-the-job training, such as alternating work/trai ning programmes in private firms, are principally beneficial to the le ss educated young workers. In contrast, for more educated young worker s, ''work fare'' programmes in the public sector decrease the intensit y of transition from the subsequent unemployment spell to regular jobs ; for that subgroup, ''work fare'' programmes may act as a signal of l ow employment performance.