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AIReF, with support from Redev, identifies the positive and negative impacts of Extremadura's active employment policies

Ivie, as partner of Redev, collaborates in the study that analyzes the outcome of the 457 million euros allocated between 2016 and 2019 to improving the situation of the labor market in Extremadura

The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) has presented the results of the study Políticas activas de empleo en Extremadura (Active Employment Policies in Extremadura), developed for the Regional Government of Extremadura in Spain. AIReF receives support from the Ivie, AFI and KSNET, within the framework of Redev, Network for Good Practices of Evaluation Processes.

The collaboration of these entities is a response to their commitment to promote the evaluation of public policies. The report analyzes eight key programs of the Public Employment Service Agency of Extremadura (SEXPE). These programs are divided into three categories: work training, public job creation, and private employment incentive programs. The goal is to examine how the eight programs used the 457 million euros that were allotted to them between 2016 and 2019 in order to find areas to improve.

The policies analyzed in relation to private employment are two: aid for self-employment and aid for indefinite hiring. In Extremadura, both policies had a positive impact on employability. In particular, the first one, which had an annual budget of 30.1 million euros, provided support to 3,874 people per year, increasing their chances of finding work by about 31%. Regarding the aid for indefinite hiring, which totaled 11.8 million a year, benefited 2,251 individuals and increased employability by 17%, with the unemployed and those over the age of 52 benefiting the most.

The proposals for both policies revolve around improving approaches, linking work with training and assessing the results once the programs have been implemented. As for the public sector, the analysis is carried out on the efficacy of the Employment Experience program, which provides financial support for local businesses that hire unemployed individuals. Out of the eight initiatives that were examined, this one performed the worst, since it had a negative impact on employability, with an allocation of 34.2 million per year (the one that received the most money) to reach 5,381 people. Thus, AIReF proposes a complete restructuring of the program. The education/work training area is the one that includes the most evaluated policies with a total of five programs.

Overall, there is a positive but limited impact in four of the programs, with budgets ranging from 0.3 to 9 million euros. A number of changes are suggested, such as improving the selection of teachers, students and companies; increasing the presence of vocational training or adding incentives for long-term employment. The training plan that received the largest funding is professional schools, which benefited 1,668 people and received 27.3 million euros annually. Despite this, it is the one with the worst results, since an initial negative impact was identified which consequently failed to improve the labor market insertion of the beneficiaries. In this sense, a complete restructuring of the program is proposed that improves adaptation and selection of teachers.

General improvements

Apart from the specific recommendations for every program, AIReF suggests some ideas to enhance the efficacy of active employment programs in Extremadura. Specifically, they propose 5 elements that would help to optimize the system at a global level: improving the available databases, guaranteeing personalized approaches through employability indicators, focusing actions on people with low employability, strengthening the evaluation of the effectiveness of the programs and continuing to promote vocational training linked to employment.