ABSTRACT

Participants in Specific Skills Training and Direct Employment Schemes were more likely to have completed the senior cycle of secondary education than participants in the other programmes, and the educational profile of participants in those two programmes is much closer to that of non-participants. One of the interesting features revealed by the graph is that although in the first few months participants in any programme fared better in employment terms than the comparison group, after 12–15 months this general advantage disappears. Duration of unemployment had a negative and significant effect on post-programme employment probability, as did dropping out of a programme for reasons other than to take a job. The most commonly used approach is to estimate two equations: A participation equation, which models the probability of programme participation and an outcome equation, models the probability of finding a job.