What kind of training works for the unemployed and first-time jobseekers? Differential effects of a regional program

The paper presents the results of an evaluation study on an occupational training program carried out in Tuscany between July 2007 and June 2008 through Measure A2 of Regional Operational Program (ROP) 2000-2006, Ob. 3, and addressed to unemployed and first-time jobseekers. This sort of evaluation of professional and vocational training has been reviously performed in very few similar studies in Italy. To make it, we use matching techniques and duration models, starting from a wide set of pre-treatment characteristics, as identified in the available administrative archives or collected through ad hoc questionnaires. The outcome variables taken into account are the employment status and some of its features as well as the length of search times for a first job. More particularly, the effects of some alternative treatments are compared,
which correspond to different typologies of courses (multiple treatments). Our findings show that the program has roduced asymmetric results across the various typologies of beneficiaries and that not every kind of training has been effective.