Helping social assistance beneficiaries to find jobs: evidence from a controlled trial in the City of Lausanne (Switzerland)

ESPN Flash Report 2018/22

GIULIANO BONOLI – EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY NETWORK MAY 2018

Between 2015 and Description offices, sometimes requiring 2017, the City of beneficiaries to commute between Lausanne tested an The activation of jobless recipients of agencies. innovative way of social assistance presents a number of Second, the staff/beneficiaries ratio was helping non-working challenges for social policy. First, this more favourable: staff had only about social assistance group tends to be less employable than half as many cases as in the standard beneficiaries back into other groups of jobseekers; as a result, approach (65 instead of 130). jobs. The intervention they come last in the job queue. consisted in setting up Second, many social assistance Third, staff were only dealing with social a joint unit staffed by recipients face social problems that assistance recipients; this meant they social workers and make labour market participation could specialise, compared to the caseworkers from the difficult, such as debt, lack of childcare, standard approach where case workers Public employment health problems, and so forth. Third, work with a mix of social insurance (i.e. service. After two these difficulties are compounded by unemployment benefit) and social years, beneficiaries the fact that traditionally, in most assistance recipients. It was assigned to the unit countries, social assistance institutions hypothesised that in the standard had a greater have little know-how in the field of approach, social assistance likelihood of being in labour market reinsertion and beneficiaries were in competition with employment (+9%). activation. unemployment benefit recipients, who This resulted in a are generally more employable and thus reduction in benefit Against this background, the City of more likely to receive job offers. costs of 11% over the Lausanne, Switzerland, tested an innovative approach to the activation of Fourth, recipients would remain in this period of observation activation-oriented setting even if (22 months). This new social assistance recipients between 2015 and 2017. This approach was assessed as (temporarily) unsuitable for set-up has been work. Under the standard process, expanded beyond the based on collaboration between social assistance services and the public however, social assistance beneficiaries City of Lausanne. were deemed unfit for work after two employment services (PES). There are LEGAL NOTICE some significant differences compared sanctions, and freed from the requirement to look for a job. This document has been to the standard approach. prepared for the European First, social assistance beneficiaries The new approach was tested in a Commission. However, it quasi-randomised controlled trial that reflects the views only of the were dealt with by case workers authors, and the Commission specialised in job market placement. lasted 22 months. Individuals cannot be held responsible The latter could rely on the help of in- requesting social assistance on even for any use which may be days were included in the treatment made of the information house social workers to address social contained therein. problems. Under the standard group (N=789), those coming on odd approach, however, social workers and days were assigned to the control group PES caseworkers worked in separate (N=755). The evaluation was based on

three datasets: the social not in competition with assistance administrative unemployment benefit recipients Further reading database, the PES jobseekers’ who tend to be more employable Bonoli, G. and Champion, C. database, and a survey carried out jobseekers. (2014). “Federalism and welfare to among participants and control work in Switzerland - The cases. In addition, qualitative Outlook & development of active social interviews were carried out with commentary policies in a fragmented welfare the actors involved in the state”. Publius: The Journal of implementation. The trial was part of a larger federalism, 45, 77-98. endeavour supported by the Bonoli, G. and Trein, P. (2016). The results show an impact on federal government to identify best employment of 9 percentage “Cost-Shifting in Multitiered practice solutions to the issue of Welfare States: Responding to points after 22 months, and benefit activation of social assistance Rising Welfare Caseloads in expenditure was about 11% lower beneficiaries. Even though social Germany and Switzerland”. for recipients in the treatment assistance is a cantonal Publius: The Journal of Federalism, group than for people in the control responsibility, the federal 4, 596-622. group. The savings obtained government has in recent years allowed the city to recoup the extra Bonoli, G., Lalive, R., Oesch, D., been criticised for cutting federal Bigotta, M., Cottier, L. and Fossati, costs of the more favourable staff/ social programmes (such as F. (2017). “Evaluation de l’unité beneficiaries ratio. unemployment or invalidity commune ORP-CSR en Ville de It appears that the main reason insurance) and in this way Lausanne” [Evaluation of the joint why the intervention was effective favouring a transfer of unit between the social and the is that recipients in the treatment beneficiaries (and costs) from public employment service in the group received considerably more federal programmes to cantonal City of Lausanne]. Lausanne: job offers per person than those in social assistance (Bonoli and Canton Vaud, Dép. de l’Economie the control group (on average Champion 2014; Bonoli and Trein et du sport, Dép. de la santé et de l’action sociale. 1.32, compared to 0.78). In 2016). It was in response to these comparison to the control group, critiques that the federal SECO (2010). “Concept-cadre: beneficiaries in the treatment government supported a series of Collaboration entre AC et aide group were also more satisfied trials in various cantons, like the sociale” [Conceptual framework for with the help they received and felt one in Lausanne (SECO 2010). the collaboration between unemployment insurance and that the jobs offered were more The Lausanne trial was considered suitable. social assistance]. Berne: Swiss a success by the cantonal federal government, State This is probably explained not only government , and the results of the secretariat for economic affairs by the more favourable evaluation study informed the (SECO). decision to expand this approach to caseworker/recipient ratio, but Author also by the fact that in the trial, the City of Lausanne and beyond social assistance recipients were within the Canton of Vaud. Giuliano Bonoli (University of Lausanne)

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