Does accessibility to local public employment agencies matter? Answers from a French quasi-experiment

We question whether accessibility to local public employment agencies impacts exits from unemployment. We deal with the potential endogeneity of the residential location of jobseekers by using the unanticipated creation of a new agency in the French region of Lyon as a quasi-natural experiment. We u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied economics 2019-05, Vol.51 (22), p.2422-2435
Main Authors: Bunel, Mathieu, Tovar, Elisabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Aggregate data
Economic analysis
Economic theory
Economics and Finance
Employment agencies
Government agencies
Humanities and Social Sciences
Labor market
Quasi-experimental methods
Residence
Unemployment
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Summary:We question whether accessibility to local public employment agencies impacts exits from unemployment. We deal with the potential endogeneity of the residential location of jobseekers by using the unanticipated creation of a new agency in the French region of Lyon as a quasi-natural experiment. We use exhaustive and geo-located individual data on jobseekers and local public employment agencies. Contrary to past evidence based on aggregated data, we find no evidence that jobseekers with improved accessibility to the local public employment services experience an improvement of their probability of exiting unemployment. We however find evidence of transitory organizational effects. These findings strongly question the costly strategy of a fine distribution of local public employment agencies across the territory while suggesting that institutional issues are key.
ISSN:0003-6846
1466-4283
DOI:10.1080/00036846.2018.1545079