Article Green Open Access 2021

The effects of youth labour market reforms: Evidence from Italian apprenticeships

AA
Albanese, Andrea
 CL
Cappellari, Lorenzo
 LM
Leonardi, Marco
Oxford Economic Papers
Journal · Vol. 73 · Issue 1 · pp. 98-121
Abstract

In this paper, we estimate the causal effects of the 2003 reforms to the Italian apprenticeship contract that increased its legal length, allowed on-the-job training and introduced a minimum floor to apprentices' wages. Using administrative data, we implement a covariate balancing propensity score and a difference-in-differences estimator. We find that the new contract improves the chances of an apprentice obtaining a permanent job in the same firm five years after hiring; however, this occurs more frequently in large firms. We also find sizeable, long-run wage effects that extend well beyond the legal duration of the apprenticeship contract. These effects are compatible with increased human capital accumulation, possibly due to the reformed training provisions. © 2019 Oxford University Press 2019. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

J24 C21 J41

Index Keywords

Employment human capital training skilled labor wage labor market labor standard young population Italy policy reform
Author Affiliations
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, MI, Italy
Department of Economics, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, MI, Italy
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 10 References
1 Askilden, Jan Erik, Apprentices and young workers: A study of the Norwegian youth labour market, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 52, 1, pp. 1-17, (2005)
2 Autor, David H., Does employment protection reduce productivity? Evidence from US states, Economic Journal, 117, 521, pp. F189-F217, (2007)
3 Becker, Sascha O., Sensitivity analysis for average treatment effects, Stata Journal, 7, 1, pp. 71-83, (2007)
4 Berton, Fabio, Are temporary jobs a port of entry into permanent employment?: Evidence from matched employer-employee, International Journal of Manpower, 32, 8, pp. 879-899, (2011)
5 Busso, Matias, New evidence on the finite sample properties of propensity score reweighting and matching estimators, Review of Economics and Statistics, 96, 5, pp. 885-897, (2014)
6 Cappellari, Lorenzo, Temporary Employment, Job Flows and Productivity: A Tale of Two Reforms, Economic Journal, 122, 562, pp. F188-F215, (2012)
7 de Chaisemartin, Clément, Fuzzy differences-in-differences, Review of Economic Studies, 85, 2, pp. 999-1028, (2018)
8 DiPrete, Thomas A., Assessing bias in the estimation of causal effects: Rosenbaum bounds on matching estimators and instrumental variables estimation with imperfect instruments, Sociological Methodology, 34, pp. 271-310, (2004)
9 Dustmann, Christian, Training and union wages, Review of Economics and Statistics, 91, 2, pp. 363-376, (2009)
10 Eichhorst, Werner, A road map to vocational education and training in industrialized countries, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 68, 2, pp. 314-337, (2015)
Quick Actions
Full Text via DOI
Citation Metrics
10
Times Cited (Scopus)
References 10
Document Identifiers