Training programs for the unemployed: The efficiency of publicly financed training measures in the German transformation process

The efficiency of publicly financed training measures is discussed. Finding s concerning evaluation have For the most parr diverged as a result of data problems. The article Examines the efficiency of publicly financed trainin g programs for East Germany which aim at reintegrating unemployed persons. The analysis is based on longitudinal data of the "BerufsverlaufsstudieOstd eutschland" (occupational trajectories in East Germany) for the period 1990 -1997. Analytically, the effect of training measures is split into a "human capital" and an "institutional" effect. Both effects are analyzed in a mul tivariate event history model. They operate in contrary directions: the ins titutional effect is marked by delayed reintegration of unemployed into wor k whereas the human capital effect results in better labour market chances due to additional credentials. In times of rapidly changing labour market s tructures the institutional effect overrides the human capital effect. In t he East German transformation process, publicly financed training measures have nor proved to be an efficient political instrument to speed up the rei ntegration of the unemployed people into gainful employment.