Rehabilitation services: a viable alternative to sheltered employment

05/12/2018

In a recently published paper, BI experts find that supported employment programmes can increase reemployment, based on the analysis of a program implemented in Hungary in 2009-2013.

The estimate is based on the comparison of programme participants and other jobseekers with similar characteristics and unemployment history and facing similar labour market conditions. We find that the programme had a positive effect on reemployment chances, of 16 percentage points for men and 25 percentage points among women. This implies that, compared to segregated sheltered workshops and other, similarly costly programmes that do not facilitate employment in the primary labour market, rehabilitation services represent a viable alternative.

The paper was based on a research report prepared for the National Development Agency in 2013 and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health.