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Employment Outcomes of Work for the Dole: An Analysis of the DEWRSB Net Impact Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

J.W. Nevile
J.W. Nevile*
Affiliation:
Centre for Applied Economic Research, University of New South Wales
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Abstract

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Since the data necessary to make a formal quantitative analysis of Work for the Dole employment outcomes is not available to researchers who are independent of Commonwealth Government Departments, this article examines the (then) Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (DEWRSB) net impact report, finding in it a number of weaknesses. The combined effect of these is to inflate the estimated value for net impact but a corrected estimate is still higher than many consider likely. Any figure for the net impact estimate of an Australian labour market program can only be a broad indicator. This article argues that in the case of Work for the Dole the net impact is definitely positive and by more than a trivial amount.

Type
Current Issues
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , June 2003 , pp. 127 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2003

Footnotes

*

This article reports on one part of research supported by an Australian Research Council linkage grant number LP0212040. A report on the whole project, which reviewed Work for the Dole as an active labour market program, is contained in Nevile J.W. and Nevile A (forthcoming 2003). The author wishes to thank the anonymous referees whose comments improved the article, but the usual caveat applies.

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