Joint OECD/University of Maryland International Conference
Labour Activation in a Time of High Unemployment
14-15 November 2011
CC Room 4
The OECD and the University of Maryland are convening an international conference on European perspectives on 'Labour Activation in Times of High Unemployment. The purpose of the conference is to bring together leading scholars from Europe as well as from North America whose research focuses on labour activation in its various forms. In the context of high and often persistent unemployment in a number of OECD countries, the conference will help to shed light on whether changes are needed in various labour market policies and strategies to activate the unemployed back to work, and what lessons could be learned from the various adaptations implemented by several countries. To explore these issues we have invited European and U.S. scholars, researchers and policy analysts to exchange evidence-based conclusions about the operations and outcomes of different labour market programmes.
- European researchers will present quantitative, evidence-based papers on what is known about the impact of various labour market policies and activation strategies, with a special emphasis on their utility during times of high unemployment.
- U.S. scholars will serve as formal discussants for the European papers. They, too, will prepare papers in advance of the meeting that identify and highlight the European experiences that might be applied to U.S. policy and practice.
- European policy makers and practitioners will discuss the most recent policy and programmatic developments that may not yet have been the subject of rigorous evaluation.
Monday, 14 November 2011
| 9:30 - 9:40 |
Welcoming Remarks Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary General, OECD, France |
| 9:40 - 9:45 |
Introduction to Conference Stefano Scarpetta, Deputy Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD, France Douglas Besharov, Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy; Fellow, Atlantic Council, United States Paper |
| 9:45 - 10:00 |
Keynote Address: The Factors That Contribute to Success and Failure in Labour Activation (tentative title) Aart de Geus, Bertlesmann Stiflung Executive Board, Germany; former Deputy Secretary General, OECD, France |
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Session I: The Political Economy of Labor Market Policy Reform Edward Montgomery (Chair), Dean, Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, Washington, DC, United States | |
| 10:00 - 10:15 | Beyond Activation? Factors that Impede or Facilitate Post-Crisis Labour Market and Welfare Adjustment Hedva Sarfati, Consultant, ISSA, Switzerland Abstract Paper Presentation |
| 10:15 - 10:20 | Questions
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| 10:20 - 10:35 | Labor Market Reform in a Dysfunctional Labor Market Pedro Portugal, Research Economist, Bank of Portugal, Portugal Presentation |
| 10:35 - 10:40 | Questions
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| 10:40 - 10:55 | Reforming an Insider-Outsider Labor Market: The Spanish Experience Samuel Bentolila, Professor of Economics, CEMFI, Spain Abstract Paper Presentation |
| 10:55 - 11:00 | Questions
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| 11:00 - 11:20 |
Coffee / Tea
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| 11:20 - 11:35 | Discussant Aart de Geus, Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, Germany; former Deputy Secretary General, OECD, France |
| 11:35 - 11:45 | Chair's Comments Edward Montgomery, Dean, Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, United States Paper Presentation |
| 11:45 - 12:15 | Open Discussion |
| 12:15 - 14:00 | Lunch |
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Session II: Unemployment Insurance Programs Jacob Alex Klerman (Chair), Principal Associate and Senior Fellow, Abt Associates, United States | |
| 14:00 - 14:15 | Unemployment Benefits and Activation as Influences on Labour Market Outcomes David Grubb, Senior Economist, OECD, France Presentation |
| 14:15 - 14:20 | Questions |
| 14:20 - 14:35 | Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Dynamics in Europe Konstantinos Tatsiramos, Lecturer, University of Leicester, United Kingdom; Visiting Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany Abstract Paper Presentation |
| 14:35 - 14:40 | Questions |
| 14:40 - 14:55 | Active Unemployment Insurance Knut Røed, Senior Research Fellow, Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research, Norway Paper Presentation |
| 14:55 - 15:00 | Questions |
| 15:00 - 15:10 | Discussant Antoine Magnier, Director, Directorate for the Coordination of Research, Studies and Statistics (DARES), France Presentation |
| 15:10 - 15:20 | Chair's Comments Jacob Alex Klerman, Principal Associate and Senior Fellow, Abt Associates, United States Paper Presentation |
| 15:20 - 15:50 | Open Discussion |
| 15:50 - 16:10 | Coffee / Tea |
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Session III: Outsourcing and Public/Private Partnerships Phoebe Cottingham (Chair), Consultant, United States | |
| 16:10 - 16:25 | Governing Public Employment Services: Recent Trends in Social Partnership and Privatization J. Timo Weishaupt, Professor for the Sociology of Welfare States, University of Mannheim, Germany Abstract Paper |
| 16:25 - 16:30 | Questions |
| 16:30 - 16:45 | The World of Welfare to Work Michael Hobday, President, Human Services International, MAXIMUS Inc., Australia Presentation |
| 16:45 - 16:50 | Questions |
| 16:50 - 17:05 | Measuring and molding: Australian employment services 2009 to 2012 Margaret McKinnon, Group Manager, Job Services Australia, Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations, Australia Paper Presentation |
| 17:05 - 17:10 | Questions |
| 17:10 - 17:20 | Discussant Wade Horn, Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, United States |
| 17:20 - 17:30 | Chair's Comments Phoebe Cottingham, Consultant, United States |
| 17:30 - 18:00 | Open Discussion |
| 18:30 |
Conference Reception, OECD Chateau, hosted by the University of Maryland with the support of MAXIMUS
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| 9:30 - 9:35 | Welcoming Remarks Stefano Scarpetta, Deputy Director, Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD, France Douglas Besharov, Professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy; Fellow, Atlantic Council, United States |
| Session IV: Social Assistance (Welfare) Programs Ron Haskins (Chair), Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, United States | |
| 9:35 - 9:50 | The Activation of Minimum Income Recipients in Europe: Assessing the Impact of the Crisis Ivar Lodemel, Professor and Research Director, Research Group for Inclusive Social Welfare Policies (GIV), Norway Paper Presentation |
| 9:50 - 9:55 | Questions |
| 9:55 - 10:10 | European and American Welfare Values: Four Case-Studies in Reform Robert Walker, Professor and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Paper Presentation |
| 10:10 - 10:15 | Questions |
| 10:15 - 10:30 | Do German Welfare-to-Work Programmes Reduce Welfare Dependency and Increase Employment? Michael Lechner, Professor and Chair of Econometrics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland Presentation |
| 10:30 - 10:35 | Questions |
| 10:35 - 10:50 | The Effectiveness of European Welfare-to-Work Policies Jochen Kluve, Professor of Empirical Labor Economics, Humboldt University; Head of RWI-Berlin Germany Abstract Paper Presentation |
| 10:50 - 10:55 | Questions |
| 10:55 - 11:20 | Coffee |
| 11:20 - 11:40 | Discussants Dick Vink, Director, Dick Vink Advies, the Netherlands Lawrence Mead, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, New York University, United States Presentation |
11:40 - 11:50 | Chair's Comments Ron Haskins, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, United States Paper Presentation |
| 11:50 - 12:20 | Open Discussion |
| 12:20 - 13:45 | Lunch |
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Session V: Disability Programs Mary Daly (Chair), Associate Director of Research and Group Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, United States | |
| 13:45 - 14:00 | Crisis, Unemployment and Disability Benefits Claims: Does Structural Reform Matter? Christopher Prinz, Senior Policy Analyst, OECD Presentation |
| 14:00 - 14:05 | Questions |
| 14:05 - 14:20 | Return to Work After Long Term Sickness: The Role of Private Versus Public Interventions Philip de Jong, Professor of the Economics of Social Security, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Paper Presentation |
| 14:20 - 14:25 | Questions |
| 14:25 - 14:40 | Swedish Policies for the Disabled. What Do We Know About the Effects? Laura Hartman, Head of Analysis and Forecasts, Social Insurance Agency, Sweden; Associate Professor of Economics, Uppsala University, Sweden Abstract Paper Presentation |
| 14:40 - 14:45 | Questions |
| 14:45 - 15:05 | Discussants Carol Beattie, Disability and Work Division, Department of Work and Pensions, United Kingdom Presentation Petter Odmark, Director, Social Insurance Division, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden Presentation |
| 15:05 - 15:15 | Chair's Comments Mary Daly, Associate Director of Research and Group Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, United States Presentation |
| 15:15 - 15:35 | Coffee |
| 15:35 - 16:05 | Open Discussion |
| 16:05 | Closing |
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