Valutare l'efficacia delle politiche del lavoro in tempo di crisi

The thesis addresses the issue of evaluation of policies aimed at supporting the reintegration of people who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis. In the framework of social evaluation research, some methodological proposals can be put forward only under certain conditions; one of the best among them is represented by a change period, such as the one related to a crisis. Some international experiences show that a properly designed evaluation of the effectiveness of public policies is able to produce solid results, and, above all, is the most effective learning tool for governing the change itself. The analysis focuses on the experience made in France, where an experimental counterfactual analysis has been carried out in order to firstly, assess the effectiveness of labor market policies and, secondly, measure its effects. The large-scale social experiment conducted in France could avoid the use of a control group of untreated individuals (i.e. a group not allowed to use any active policy intervention), thereby overcoming ethical and legal problems arising from the exclusion of potential beneficiaries. This experiment has made it clear that the counterfactual experimental approach is possible and, indeed, desirable. The object of evaluation in France (i.e. measures accompanying unemployed workers) shows many similarities with the anti-crisis measures undertaken in Italy, starting from the State-Regions Agreements in 2009 and the succeeding social safety nets reform (Law 92/2012 and subsequent modifications and additions). This similarity can be found in the models of intervention used, such as the collaboration between the public and private sectors, the intensity and individualization of reintegration pathways, the assumption of responsibility by the employee and the supplier of accompanying services, the strong involvement of local actors. The thesis, therefore, puts forward an organizational and methodological proposal for evaluating the effectiveness of the policies supporting the re-employment of dismissed workers; this proposal could profitably enter the processes of transformation that, since 2009, are reshaping the Italian workfare system.