Supporting and Evaluating the Implementation of the Second Stage of the Federal Programme "Perspective 50plus"

The aim of the federal programme “Perspective 50plus” is to foster reemployment chances of long-term unemployed workers aged 50 and above by means of a diversity of regional strategies and the change of attitudes towards older workers. To reach this goal, approaches successfully implemented during the first stage of the programme (2005-2008) are continued and extended.

The core of the project is an empirical analysis of the effectiveness, sustainability and efficiency of the programme. Using microeconometric techniques, the net effects of the programme and its different local variants were estimated. The results show positive effects of participation in the programme on labour market integration: within 18 months after entry into the programme, the probability of employment increases by 10 to 12 percentage points. The evaluation also shows, however, that most of the newly added jobs are not full-time jobs and do not lead to financial independence from public welfare. The results show that the programme even delays the end of the receipt of unemployment benefit II.

Apart from conducting quantitative research, the IAW was also involved in a large-scale survey among social assistance agencies and programme managers providing information on the approaches and strategies at the local level.

The final report can be downloaded here (in German):