This paper evaluates the impact on the transition to work of a policy reform in Belgium that restricted the access to a specific unemployment insurance scheme for young labor market entrants. This scheme entitles youths with no or little labor market experience to unemployment benefits after a waiting period of one year. As of 2015, the Belgian government unexpectedly scrapped benefit eligibility for youths who start the waiting period at the age of 24 or older. The reform implied a change from an inclining to a flat rate (zero-level) benefit profile. We use a difference-in-differences approach to identify the causal impact of this reform on fresh university graduates. Our main finding is that this reform only increases the transition to very short-lived jobs.

I assess the effects of a simple and low-cost intervention targeted at the youth: subsidized public transport. Using a regression discontinuity (RD) design in the Spanish region of Madrid, I examine the short-term effects of a transit subsidy that reduced job search and commuting costs for unemployed youths under 26. Specifically, I compare the future labor market outcomes of unemployed assistance recipients who were laid off just before and after the age of 26. RD estimates suggest that subsidized transit may bring meaningful employment gains for young assistance recipients. In particular, the results indicate that cheaper transport may not only help them find jobs but also remain employed longer. Finally, I find supporting evidence that these gains are driven by increased geographical mobility among those living farther away from jobs.

Policymakers typically use active labor market policies, such as training and job-search assistance, to help the unemployed find work. Nonetheless, these are often costly and have shown modest effects. In this research, I assess the employment effect of a low-cost and straightforward intervention: subsidized public transport for cash-constrained jobseekers. In particular, I exploit a natural experiment in Catalonia in 2012 that reduced transit costs for unemployment assistance recipients. Using three complementary empirical approaches (difference-in-differences, the synthetic control method, and the synthetic difference-in-differences method), I find that the transport subsidy offered in Catalonia brought meaningful employment gains concentrated on younger assistance recipients. These gains ranged from 18% to 25% of their estimated counterfactual outcome, three to twenty-four months after entering unemployment. Finally, I also find suggestive evidence that these employment gains did not come at the expense of lower earnings.