Intervention(s)
In February and March 2021, we launch a field experiment designed in cooperation and implemented by the Public Employment Service (PES) of Lower Austria (Arbeitsmarktservice Niederösterreich (AMS NÖ)). The aim is to increase training and employment among the unemployed by increasing participation in and completion of training programs. The intervention consists of an email newsletter that invites unemployed, who have been registered as unemployed for 3 to 12 months, to voluntarily contact the PES to arrange a consultation on training programs. The newsletters will be sent in three waves on February 9th, February 16th, and March 9th. Individuals are assigned to the waves depending on their duration of unemployment.
Three different treatment arms vary the type of information provided and the (perceived) autonomy that the unemployed have in choosing a training program. The different treatment conditions are as follows:
1. Group: control
2. Group: treatment with newsletter
3. Group: treatment with newsletter, and voucher
4. Group: treatment with newsletter, voucher, and information prime
Group 1 functions as the control group and is not contacted at all.
Group 2 receives a newsletter that includes an invitation to a consultation to discuss potential training programs with the PES' job counselor and provides information about existing financial incentives to start a training program.
In addition, groups 3 and 4 receive a voucher (Figure 2) worth € 15.000,-, which can be redeemed to take part in training programs provided by the PES. Alternatively, the voucher can be redeemed in consultation with the PES for any outside training for up to € 3.000,-. The groups receiving the voucher further obtain a list of typical training programs as part of the newsletter. This should motivate the unemployed in these two groups to already think about their preferred training program before the consultation at the PES. Finally, job counselors are instructed to take serious the voucher received by unemployed. The treatment is designed to increase self-initiative for the unemployed and raise awareness for the financial value of such training programs, thus inducing reciprocity.
Finally, group 4 receives in addition to the voucher an information treatment consisting of a list of occupations with the highest number of job vacancies. This information treatment is intended to counteract a frequently mentioned concern related to asymmetric information in the use of training vouchers: unemployed allegedly do not have enough information to make an informed choice about their optimal training program (Strittmatter, 2016). It will additionally increase (perceived) autonomy as it encourages even more to think about potential course choices before the consultation at the PES.
In general, all groups (including the control group) have access to the same training programs, both provided by the PES as well as outside training. The intervention, thus, consists of the variation in the type of information provided. Additionally, it varies the actual and perceived autonomy that the unemployed have in choosing their courses.