Do wage subsidies enhance employability? Evidence from Australian youth

We examine a panel of unemployed Australian youth to investigate whether participation in a wage subsidy programme offers merely a temporary respite from unemployment, or whether there are longer-lasting positive employability effects. Controlling for selection bias using a bivariate probit analysis, we estimate the effect of participation in the Special Youth Employment Training Program on the probability of being employed in subsequent waves of the data, up to an average of 26 months after subsidy expiry. We find that far from breaking up when support expires, subsidies extend short duration jobs. Furthermore, we find large and significant effects of participation on the subsequent employability. Much of this arises from retention of subsidised jobs, but even excluding this we find evidence of longer-term positive effects.