Effects of benefit sanctions for young unemployed welfare recipients : Accelerated employment take-up but also undesirable side effects

Abstract

"Young welfare recipients in Germany can be sanctioned quite strongly if they do not comply with certain benefit rules, e.g. if they refuse an acceptable job offer or refuse to participate in an active labour market programme. This study analyses effects of first benefit sanctions and the more severe repeated benefit sanctions on job search outcomes and transitions out of the labour force of young male welfare recipients living in West Germany. The results show that young welfare recipients' transition rates into employment and out of the labour force both rise as a response to sanctions and their accepted daily wages are negatively affected by a first sanction." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Berg, G., Uhlendorff, A. & Wolff, J. (2017): Wirkungen von Sanktionen für junge ALG-II-Bezieher: Schnellere Arbeitsaufnahme, aber auch Nebenwirkungen. (IAB-Kurzbericht 05/2017), Nürnberg, 8 p.