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Access to Subsidised Employment in North Macedonia

Last registered on September 15, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Access to Subsidised Employment in North Macedonia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012037
Initial registration date
September 05, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 15, 2023, 4:48 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of)
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Alex Armand
Affiliation
Nova School of Business and Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Pedro Carneiro
PI Affiliation
University College London, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice and Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality at NHH Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Federico Tagliati
PI Affiliation
Bank of Spain
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Yiming Xia
PI Affiliation
Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2015-06-01
End date
2018-12-31
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Active Labor Market Policy, Unemployment, Wage Subsidies, Job Search
JEL code(s)
I38; O15; J08; J24; J68
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study evaluates experimentally the long-term impacts of temporary wage subsidies on employment in North Macedonia. The target group consists of vulnerable unemployed individuals applying to an employment program that provides employers with a subsidy covering 50% of wage payments during the initial year of employment, alongside training expenses. Applicants are first matched to a job opening, and then randomly selected to attend the job interview with the employer, who decides whether to hire the interviewee under the program’s conditions. We estimate impacts on employment using administrative records, and on employment and skill accumulation using survey data.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Armand, Alex et al. 2023. "Access to Subsidised Employment in North Macedonia." AEA RCT Registry. September 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12037-1.1
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Launched by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in 2015, the Subsidized Employment Program (SEP) proposes to stimulate em- ployment among long-term unemployed individuals by combining two components: (i) the matching of eligible program applicants to potential vacancies posted by participating employ- ers; (ii) and a subsidy provided to the employer, conditional on hiring a matched job applicant. The subsidy comprises a six-month transfer meant to fully cover the wage of the employee during this period, and an additional transfer to cover the training costs. In exchange, the employer commits to a minimum employment duration of 12 months.
Intervention Start Date
2015-09-01
Intervention End Date
2016-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Employment
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Type of employment, job-related skills, non-cognitive skills
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental design is based on individual randomisation. During the launch of the SEP an initial cohort of applicants was first matched to available vacancies based on the specific skill requirements of each job, and then randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group. Matched candidates in the treatment group were invited to attend a job interview with the employer for the subsidized job. However, in order to secure the job, an applicant needed to be successful in the interview. Successful candidates who accepted a job offer became employed under the program’s conditions, and the employer received the program’s benefits. The remaining subset of matched candidates (control group) was not invited to attend any interview.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation was carried out by the implementer.
Randomization Unit
Individual within the candidates matched with a job opening
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
153
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
153
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Assuming long-term employment rates of 10–20% and with 153 individuals in the experiment, our power calculations indicated that it would be possible to detect impacts of being offered an interview on employment rates of at least 15–18 percentage points.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 31, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
December 31, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
153
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
153
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
80 individuals in treatment group and 73 in the control group.
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
This paper examines the impact of an experiment in North Macedonia in which vulnerable unemployed individuals applying to a subsidized employment program and being matched to a job opening are randomly selected to attend job interviews. Employers receive a subsidy which reduced by half the wage cost of a newly hired worker during the first year and compensated the firm for the training costs. We complement administrative employment records with survey data to study treatment impacts. Attending the job interview leads to an increase of 15 percentage points in the likelihood of being employed 3.5 years after the start of the intervention. Obtaining a job under the program results in a much larger effect of 50 percentage points. These long-term effects are larger for individuals with lower attachment to the labor market. Among these, we document positive treatment effects on both non-cognitive and job-related skills.
Citation
Armand A, P Carneiro, F Tagliati and Y Xia (2020), ‘DP15192 Can Subsidized Employment Tackle Long-Term Unemployment? Experimental Evidence from North Macedonia‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 15192. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp15192
URL
https://cepr.org/publications/dp15192

Reports & Other Materials