Pathways to Employment for the Long-term Unemployed

Pathways to the Labor Market for Long-term Unemployed: a Comparison of Labor Market Interventions Effects Mechanisms and Implementation

This project's aims are twofold (1) to uncover and define the underlying theories of change guiding competing active labor market programs (ALMP) in Sweden, and (2) to assess the relative effectiveness of these competing programs in a theory-based non-randomized controlled trial. The purpose is to assess the extent to which competing ALMPs are effective in moving long-term unemployed individuals (i.e. unemployed for 6 months or more) closer to the labor-market.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Unemployment
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Active labor market intervention

Detailed Description

Long-term unemployment has a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities. In addition, the effects of long-term unemployment have been found to impact subgroups differently. Today there is scant knowledge on the mechanisms that are influential in moving individuals from long-term unemployment closer to the labor market. This study is designed to answer six research questions using a variety of methods (mixed-methods) and outcome measures (self-report, official register). In addition, this study leverages official register data to construct an untreated control group. This study will assess the extent to which an emerging theory of becoming job ready holds under experimental scrutiny.

This project will engage ALMP program administrators and service providers in semi-structured interviews. A total of 6 competing ALMPs will be included in the study. The transcribed interview material will be used as a basis for program theory reconstruction. All specified program theories will be presented back to program stakeholders for validation. ALMP program effectiveness will be assessed quasi-experimentally with pre- (T1) and posttest (T2) collection of self-reported data. Additionally, official register data from the Longitudinal integrated database for health insurance and labor market studies (LISA) will be collected for all participants. In addition, a matched sample will be collected from LISA to be used as a non-treated control group on final policy outcomes (e.g., employment, salary/wage). This study also assesses program implementation and economic outcomes of competing the competing ALMPs.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200

Contacts and Locations

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All individuals receiving intervention from participating service providers during the inclusion period that meet the inclusion criteria.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Unemployed for a period of at least 6 months, and
• 25 years old or younger, or
• born outside of Sweden, or
• 55 years old or older without higher education, or
• has a disability (physical, intellectual, neuropsychiatric, or mental) and
• receives social insurance benefits, or
• receives social welfare benefits

Exclusion Criteria:

• referred for services primarily by the Department of Justice

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Municipal; Individual participants receiving active labor market intervention from municipal providers	Behavioral: Active labor market intervention; Behavior change intervention
Non-profit; Individual participants receiving active labor market intervention from non-profit providers	Behavioral: Active labor market intervention; Behavior change intervention
Register; Matched sample from register data, no intervention provided

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in employment and earnings	Employment and earnings data collected from official register data	baseline, 6 months post baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in general health	Self report on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)	baseline, 6 months post baseline
Change in resilience	Self report on the Resilience Scale (RS-14)	baseline, 6 months post baseline
Change in perceived employment obstacles	Self-report on the Perceived Employment Barriers Scale (PEBS-20)	baseline, 6 months post baseline
Change in perceived employment hope	Self-report on the Employment Hope Scale (EHS-14)	baseline, 6 months post baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Göteborg University
• Collaborators: Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Mikaela Starke, PhD, Department of Social Work, Gothenburg University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): September 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): June 1, 2021
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 27, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 28, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): January 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 24, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 23, 2020
• Last Verified: July 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Adolescent; Disabled Persons; Immigrants
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2018-01324

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified participant data for primary and secondary outcome measures will be made available.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be made available within 6 months of study completion
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Data access requests will be reviewed and must be accompanied by an ethical approval to use data.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No