The Impact of Wage Subsidies on Jobseekers’ Outcomes and Firm Employment

The study examines the impact of wage subsidies on assisted job-seekers and on the firms that employ them, using propensity matching methods.

Overall we find that starting a subsidised job leads to significant employment and earning benefits for assisted job-seekers over several years. Subsidised workers are disproportionately hired into expanding firms, though we cannot determine whether the expansion would have occurred in the absence of the subsidy.