Øker arbeidsmarkedstiltak sjansen for at sosialhjelpsmottakere kommer i arbeid og/ eller utdanning? En effektevaluering basert på FD-Trygd data for perioden 2009-2014

This study examines whether active labour market programmes in Norway have an effect for increasing social assistance recipients self-sufficiency, measured in the odds of being in work and/or education. The data extracted from FD-Trygd are derived from the pool of the entire population of social assistance recipients registered in Norway in the period 2009-2014. This effect evaluation adopts a quasi-experimental design and a comparison-group to handle the selection bias, and to estimate a contrafactual outcome. Logistic regression was applied to analyze program effects. The main finding of this study is that participation in labour marked programmes have positive outcomes for social assistance recipients. However, the effect is not the same for all subgroups. For the youth between 18 and 24, the effect for labour marked programmes is estimated to be negative. As the results are in line with other studies, it is considered to be important, especially when taking into account the stricter «workfare»-line introduced by the Norwegian government this year, directed against young social assistance recipients. In contrast, for recipients belonging in the age interval 25-45 labour marked programmes have a positive effect. A positive effect is also found among long-term social assistance recipients. Several variables, like education level, work experience, age and length on social assistance, have a statistical significant effect on the outcome. Other variables, like marital status, shows no statistically significant results.