Counseling Welfare Recipients in Hauts de Seine, France

Last registered on August 08, 2015

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Counseling Welfare Recipients in Hauts de Seine, France

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0000471

Initial registration date

August 08, 2015

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

August 08, 2015, 5:06 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

France

Region

Europe

Primary Investigator

Name

Bruno Crepon

Affiliation

CREST

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Marc Gurgand

PI Affiliation

Paris School of Economics, Crest-Insee and JPAL

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Laurent Lequien

PI Affiliation

Dares and Crest-Insee

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Thierry Kamionka

PI Affiliation

Crest-Insee

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2006-03-01

End date

2011-03-01

Keywords

Labor

Additional Keywords

welfare, job search, counseling, job-counseling

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Job-search counseling is a potentially desirable labor market policy because it reduces market frictions, but it is strongly work-intensive as it requires repeated individual contact between job-seeker and case worker. Although it has become widely used, little is known about its cost-efficiency. This paper uses an experiment where individuals who have been on welfare for more than two years in a French district were randomly allocated to a counseling firm. We show that the policy causal impact is to increase employment and decrease the amounts of welfare transfers paid to the beneficiaries. However, the effects are small relative to the cost charged by the providing firm. Therefore, the net public cost, accounting for gains in welfare transfer payment, remains larger than reasonable social values that can be attached to having a former welfare recipient on a job. Although this is true for the policy as a whole, as implemented in this experiment, there is significant heterogeneity. In particular, it is more efficient and more cost-effective on a population of limited seniority on welfare.

External Link(s)

J-PAL Evaluation Summary

Registration Citation

Citation

Crepon, Bruno et al. 2015. "Counseling Welfare Recipients in Hauts de Seine, France." AEA RCT Registry. August 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.471-1.0

Former Citation

Crepon, Bruno et al. 2015. "Counseling Welfare Recipients in Hauts de Seine, France." AEA RCT Registry. August 08. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/471/history/4935

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Job-seekers in the “treatment group” had their names given to a private counseling firm, who would contact them to offer their services. The job counseling provided by this firm consisted of regular meetings with an individual advisor who would work with people on their confidence, advise on any social problems they might be having, and help them look for work or vocational trainings to increase their skills. These meetings took place at the offices of the private firm.

First wave:
(welfare recipients fulfilling the seniority requirement between December 2005 and February 2006)
11,222 individuals were randomly assigned to the treatment group, and the rest (3,758) to the control group.

Second wave:
(welfare recipients who became eligible between March and May 2006)
1,176 individuals were randomly affected to the treatment group, and 395 to the control group.

Third wave:
(those becoming eligible between the second wave and October 2006)
838 persons were added to the treatment group, and 277 to the control group.

Intervention Start Date

2006-03-01

Intervention End Date

2007-10-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The employment status of the beneficiary; the welfare transfer received by the beneficiary, paid on the public budget; and the price paid, also on the public budget, to the private provider of the policy.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Researchers sought to test whether intensive job-counseling with a private provider is an effective means of increasing employment rates even for a population with such a low attachment to the labor market. All welfare recipients in the district with at least two years of seniority into the welfare system at the moment of randomization were eligible. Each eligible individual had a 75% chance of being affected to the treatment group, and 25% chance to the control group. Data was collected from administrative records for the 17,666 people in the sample group, which provides monthly information on their employment status and whether or not they are receiving government benefits.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

individual (job seeker)

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

First wave: welfare recipients fulfilling the seniority requirement between December 2005 and February 2006.
Second wave: welfare recipients who became eligible between March and May 2006.
Third wave: those becoming eligible between the second wave and October 2006.

Sample size: planned number of observations

17,666 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Treatment group: 13,236 individuals, and
Control group: 4,430 individuals

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB