The Impact of Active Labour Market Policies in Romania

Following the predominance of macroeconomic stabilisation policies and passive policies for alleviate the reform shock in the first phase of transition, active labour market policies (ALMPs) have now come to play a more important role in transition economies. In this paper I present a theoretical and empirical analysis of different types of active labour market policies (ALMPs). In my empirical analysis I use data on Romania covering the time period 2000-2005. I find that subsidized jobs are the most effective program to bring down unemployment. Labour market training and temporary employment in public works in community service have a positive impact. Despite their overall positive impact on unemployment rate, their budgetary cost is high and they are likely to be subject to diminishing returns as employment rates rise