Performance pay for private program providers and impact on participants: A field experiment with employment services in Norway

IF 2.6 2区经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS

Labour Economics Pub Date : 2025-08-01 DOI:10.1016/j.labeco.2025.102753

Øystein M. Hernæs

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Abstract

This study examines whether performance-based pay for private employment service providers improves employment outcomes for program participants compared to traditional hourly compensation. Finding effective ways to outsource public services to external providers has the potential to improve the quality and efficiency of these services. Using a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in Norway from April 2018 to December 2021, we evaluate the impact of different payment models on the performance of private firms in delivering labor market programs. A total of 4898 unemployed individuals were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (37 %), where providers received performance-based pay contingent on participants’ employment outcomes, or a control group (63 %), where providers were compensated on an hourly basis. Despite the substantial financial incentives involved, our findings reveal no significant differences in employment rates, earnings, or hours worked between the two groups. The results allow us to rule out effects on monthly earnings of ± €5 and employment effects of ± 1 percentage points after 12 months. There were no indications of heterogeneous treatment effects across different participant groups. A cost-benefit analysis suggests a supportive case for performance pay due to lower public costs, although this estimate is subject to uncertainty.

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私人项目提供者的绩效薪酬及其对参与者的影响：挪威就业服务的实地实验

本研究考察了与传统的小时薪酬相比，私营就业服务提供商的绩效薪酬是否能改善项目参与者的就业结果。找到将公共服务外包给外部提供者的有效方法，有可能提高这些服务的质量和效率。通过2018年4月至2021年12月在挪威进行的一项大规模随机对照试验（RCT），我们评估了不同支付模式对私营企业提供劳动力市场项目绩效的影响。共有4898名失业人员被随机分配到治疗组（37%）和对照组（63%），治疗组的提供者根据参与者的就业结果获得基于绩效的薪酬，对照组的提供者按小时计酬。尽管有大量的经济激励，但我们的研究结果显示，两组之间在就业率、收入或工作时间方面没有显著差异。该结果允许我们排除12个月后对月收入±5欧元和就业影响±1个百分点的影响。在不同的参与者组中没有异质治疗效果的迹象。一项成本效益分析表明，由于公共成本较低，因此支持绩效薪酬，尽管这一估计存在不确定性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Labour Economics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

3.60

自引率

8.30%

发文量

142

期刊介绍： Labour Economics is devoted to publishing research in the field of labour economics both on the microeconomic and on the macroeconomic level, in a balanced mix of theory, empirical testing and policy applications. It gives due recognition to analysis and explanation of institutional arrangements of national labour markets and the impact of these institutions on labour market outcomes.