Lars Behrenz

Second‐Generation Immigrants in the Swedish Labour Market

Abstract This study focuses on the labour market performance among second‐generation immigrants in Sweden. One motivation behind the analysis is that it gives insight into the long‐term consequences of immigration. Labour market performance relates the probability of having a job, referred to here as a threshold effect and to the differences in income from work, given that a person is in the market and is referred to as an income from work effect. We have shown that a clear threshold effect of being a second‐generation immigrant exists and that different groups of second‐generation immigrants perform differently in the Swedish labour market.

Efficiency and productivity of employment offices: evidence from Sweden

Purpose – This paper aims to measure the efficiency and productivity of Swedish employment offices. Design/methodology/approach – Using four inputs, five outputs, and two quality attributes the ef ...

An efficiency analysis of Swedish employment offices

In this paper the method–production frontier analysis is used to analyse differences in efficiency between different Swedish Employment Offices. Earlier empirical labour market policy evaluation studies have utilised various measures that, however, do not take into consideration differences between organisation units. The main result of this investigation is that employment offices show major differences in the efficiency with which they carry out their job matching services.

Swedish employment offices: A new model for evaluating effectiveness

We measure how well Swedish employment offices perform in delivering the services required of them by the Swedish government. In contrast to earlier studies we use a dynamic efficiency framework, which allows us to better model the intertemporal nature of these services, explicitly allowing for placements of intermediate nature across periods. Rather than using second stage analysis to assess the effects of varying local labor market conditions and differences in client characteristics on performance, we include a measure of the offices expected work load directly in the model. This measure, derived from duration analysis, is designed to capture the variation across offices in resources needed before an average individual can obtain employment. It is estimated from the characteristics of all unemployed individual and local labor market conditions. The empirical results demonstrate an increase in the offices expected work loads over time and point to substantial differences in performance across offices. The results also point toward more than optimal placements in intermediate outputs such as non-matching jobs, training, and continued unemployment.

The Employment Service and Vacancy Durations

In the literature, there are few examples of studies analyzing the impact of labor market programs on vacancies. This article presents the results of a study of the impact of personnel increase at Swedish employment offices on vacancy durations. The evaluation method in the study is quasi-experimental. The main results of the study are as follows: (a) The increase of employment office staff members reduced their vacancy durations by approximately 2 days, and the probability that a vacancy is cancelled from the register is 1.17 times higher for the program offices; and (b) this effect is too small for the increase of staff members to represent a socially efficient use of resources and for a positive outcome in a public finance context.

Can Sweden's ‘Rehn–Meidner' model be put back on its feet?

The original essays in this book have been written by a number of leading international experts in the field of labour market studies to honour the intellectual contribution and lifetime achievement of Gunther Schmid.