Department of Economics and Business Economics

Using a randomized controlled trial, this paper shows that positive earnings effects of labor market programs might be driven by an employment and/or a wage effect. The findings of this paper suggest that treated individuals in a high-intense scheme are more prone to have lowered short- term reservation wages compared to non-treated and thus accepts lower wages. In a less intense scheme with use of private providers, treated individuals are more likely to have gained formal human capital accumulation, and thereby raised reservation wages, which again might give rise to long-lasting effects.