Does privatisation of vocational rehabilitation improve labour market opportunities? Evidence from a field experiment in Sweden

Lisa Laun; Peter Skogman Thoursie

doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.12.002

Does privatisation of vocational rehabilitation improve labour market opportunities? Evidence from a field experiment in Sweden

J Health Econ. 2014 Mar:34:59-72. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.12.002. Epub 2014 Jan 8.

Authors

Lisa Laun¹, Peter Skogman Thoursie²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), Sweden. Electronic address: lisa.laun@ifau.uu.se.
² Department of Economics, Stockholm University and Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), Sweden. Electronic address: peter.thoursie@ne.su.se.

PMID: 24473220
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.12.002

Abstract

This paper analyses if privatisation of vocational rehabilitation can improve labour market opportunities for individuals on long-term sickness absence. We use a field experiment performed by the Public Employment Service and the Social Insurance Agency in Sweden during 2008-2010, in which over 4000 participants were randomly offered private and public rehabilitation. We find no differences in employment rates following rehabilitation between individuals who received rehabilitation by private and public providers. Also the average cost of rehabilitation was essentially equal for the two types of providers. This suggests that there are no large efficiency gains from privatising vocational rehabilitation.

Keywords: Field experiment; Privatisation; Vocational rehabilitation.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Employment / statistics & numerical data*
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Private Sector
Privatization*
Public Sector
Rehabilitation, Vocational* / methods
Sweden / epidemiology