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This paper develops and implements a new benchmarking approach for labor market regions. Based on panel data for regions, we use nonparametric matching techniques to account for observed labor market characteristics and for spatial proximity. As the benchmark, we estimate the counterfactual distribution of labor market outcomes for a region based on outcomes of similar regions. This allows to measure both the rank (relative performance) and the absolute performance based on the actual outcome for a region. Our outcome variable of interest is the hiring rate among the unemployed. We implement different similarity measures to account for differences in labor market conditions and spatial proximity, and we choose the tuning parameters in our matching approach based on a cross-validation procedure. The results show that both observed labor market characteristics and spatial proximity are important features to successfully match regions. Specifically, the modified Zhao (2004) distance measure and geographic distance in logs work best in our applications. Our estimated performance measures remain quite stable over time.

"Die sogenannten Hartz-Reformen beinhalten eine Umstrukturierung und Reorganisation der Tätigkeit der Bundesagentur für Arbeit und eine Reform von Instrumenten der Arbeitsmarktpolitik. Trotz der seinerzeitigen Skepsis führender Ökonomen stellen diese Reformen einen bedeutenden Fortschritt in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik dar. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt zunächst die Arbeitsmarktentwicklung und die Arbeitsmarktprobleme in Deutschland. Vor diesem Hintergrund erfolgt eine Analyse und Bewertung der Reform von Instrumenten der Arbeitsmarktpolitik im Rahmen der Hartz-Reformen. Abschließend diskutiert der Beitrag einige Politikempfehlungen und weist auf wichtige ungelöste Probleme hin. Hierbei ist die Wichtigkeit der empirischen Evaluation der Wirkungen der Hartz-Reformen zu betonen. Diese Evaluation sollte im Sinne eines dauerhaften Monitorings fortgeführt werden." (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku)

"Die sogenannten Hartz-Reformen beinhalten eine Umstrukturierung und Reorganisation der Tätigkeit der Bundesagentur für Arbeit und eine Reform von Instrumenten der Arbeitsmarktpolitik. Trotz der seinerzeitigen Skepsis führender Ökonomen stellen diese Reformen einen bedeutenden Fortschritt in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik dar. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt zunächst die Arbeitsmarktentwicklung und die Arbeitsmarktprobleme in Deutschland. Vor diesem Hintergrund erfolgt eine Analyse und Bewertung der Reform von Instrumenten der Arbeitsmarktpolitik im Rahmen der Hartz-Reformen. Abschließend diskutiert der Beitrag einige Politikempfehlungen und weist auf wichtige ungelöste Probleme hin. Hierbei ist die Wichtigkeit der empirischen Evaluation der Wirkungen der Hartz-Reformen zu betonen. Diese Evaluation sollte im Sinne eines dauerhaften Monitorings fortgeführt werden." Die Untersuchung enthält quantitative Daten. Forschungsmethode: Evaluation; anwendungsorientiert; Metaanalyse; empirisch. Die Untersuchung bezieht sich auf den Zeitraum 1998 bis 2007. (Autorenreferat, IAB-Doku).

Compared to other European countries rental apartments dominate the German housing market. Policymakers and a large part of the population alike worry about the amount of affordable living space. Especially in metropolitan areas a high demand for living space exists and has been leading to a shortage and as a consequence to increasing rents. In 2001 the German government passed the Tenancy Law Reform Act to restrict the growth in rents (at least partially) and to strengthen the tenant's position. Up to now the efficacy of this reform has not been examined on national level. A further point of interest is the identification of a length of tenancy discount. The existing literature confirms such a discount where long-term tenants have to pay a lower real valued rent than short-term tenants. Our empirical analysis exploits data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) that offers the unique advantage of a large and representative sample. We find that the Tenancy Law Reform Act in 2001 appears to have been successful in the restriction of exorbitant rents. Further, we identify a significant duration discount in the first years of a tenancy. This discount is significantly larger in the upper part of the conditional rent distribution.

This paper investigates the increase in wage inequality, the decline in collective bargaining, and the development of the gender wage gap in West Germany between 2001 and 2006. Based on detailed linked employer-employee data, we show that wage inequality is rising strongly – driven not only by real wage increases at the top of the wage distribution, but also by real wage losses below the median. Coverage by collective wage bargaining plummets by 16.5 (19.1) percentage points for male (female) employees. Despite these changes, the gender wage gap remains almost constant, with some small gains for women at the bottom and at the top of the wage distribution. A sequential decomposition analysis using quantile regression shows that all workplace related effects (firm effects and bargaining effects) and coefficients for personal characteristics contribute strongly to the rise in wage inequality. Among these, the firm coefficients effect dominates, which is almost exclusively driven by wage differences within and between different industries. Labor demand or firm wage policy related effects contribute to an increase in the gender wage gap. Personal characteristics tend to reduce wage inequality for both, males and females, as well as the gender wage gap.

This paper estimates the impact of training incidence and duration on employment transitions accounting for the endogeneity of program participation and duration. We specify a very flexible bivariate random effects probit model for employment and training participation and we use Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques for estimation. We develop a simulation approach that uses the estimated coefficients and individual specific effects from the MCMC iterations to calculate the posterior distributions of different treatment effects of interest. Our estimation results imply positive effects of training on the employment probability of the treated, lying between 12 and 21 percentage points ten quarters after program start. The effects are higher for women than for men and higher in West Germany than in East Germany. Further, we find that the effect of training versus waiting underestimates the effect of training versus no training in the medium and long run by a third. Finally, our results show that longer planned enrolment lengths of three and four quarters as opposed to just two quarters lead to an increase in employment rates in the medium and long run by four to eleven percentage points.

This paper investigates the increase in wage inequality, the decline in collective bargaining, and the development of the gender wage gap in West Germany between 2001 and 2006. Based on detailed linked employer-employee data, we show that wage inequality is rising strongly - driven not only by real wage increases at the top of the wage distribution, but also by real wage losses below the median. Coverage by collective wage bargaining plummets by 16.5 (19.1) percentage points for male (female) employees. Despite these changes, the gender wage gap remains almost constant, with some small gains for women at the bottom and at the top of the wage distribution. A sequential decomposition analysis using quantile regression shows that all workplace related effects (firm effects and bargaining effects) and coefficients for personal characteristics contribute strongly to the rise in wage inequality. Among these, the firm coefficients effect dominates, which is almost exclusively driven by wage differences within and between different industries. Labor demand or firm wage policy related effects contribute to an increase in the gender wage gap. Personal characteristics tend to reduce wage inequality for both, males and females, as well as the gender wage gap.