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ᅟ The public employment service (PES) makes use in many countries of vacancy referrals as to facilitate the matching between unemployed workers and vacancies. Based on a “timing-of-events” approach to control for selective participation, this study evaluates whether this policy instrument enhanced the transition to employment in Flanders (region in northern Belgium). Three referral types are distinguished: (1) referrals actively matched by a caseworker by phone or by e-mail; (2) automatic referrals, in which the match is accomplished by a software without caseworker intervention; and (3) invitations, in which the referral is transmitted to the unemployed in a meeting with a caseworker. All three referral instruments are found to be effective, even many months after the transmission of the referral: the first and third referral types more than triples, respectively, double the transition rate to employment both in short- and long-run, while the automatic referrals enhance this rate by 50% in the first 2 months and double it in the long-run. JEL Classification C41, J63, J64, J65, J68

Individual unemployment accounts (IUAs) attenuate the moral hazard attached to unemployment insurance. However, the available literature provides no policy recommendation about what percentage of the contributions should go to IUAs. We propose criteria of actuarial neutrality and use a simple job search model to argue that a sizable proportion of the contributions could go to IUAs without changing benefits and contribution rates, and therefore not negatively affecting well-being. We derive this result from a model, first, and then use simulations to show that it also holds in more realistic settings and different labor market dynamics.

The paper argues that a comprehensive activation strategy is called for – in both unemployment and disability insurance – to minimize the conflict between income insurance and work incentives and to prevent the economic crisis from causing a long-lasting decline in labor force participation. A review of recent empirical evidence, particularly from the Scandinavian countries, indicates that “mild” activation requirements effectively counteract moral hazard problems in social insurance. The paper also argues that the distinction between unemployment and disability is blurred, and that both temporary and permanent disability insurance programs should be designed to encourage and support the use of remaining (partial) work capacity.