Impact evaluation of a training measure provided by public employment offices in Slovakia using propensity score matching

The submitted paper brings information from administrative data on registered unemployed people in Slovakia. This data are employed to evaluate a training programme which is a part of the portfolio of active labour market measures provided by the Slovak public employment offices. To evaluate the impact of the measure, propensity score matching was used with a combination of a nearest neighbour and exact matching approach. Negative effects were observable on individuals chances of getting a job during the period of 24 months after the programme. These results were confirmed also by the regression analysis. Provided training programs, on average, decreased individuals earnings. Moreover, estimated results are not homogenous across time periods. Estimations seem to be sensitive to overall changes in implementation of rules as well as the impact of economic crisis. Training programs seemed to have a positive impact on participants´ earnings in the initial periods of implementation and negative impact in the later periods, after 2009.