One of the labour market measures offered by the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund has been mobility support to cover the expenses of transportation from home to work. The aim is to support the mobility of people looking for work, to support accepting a job further form home and, hence, reduce the length of unemployment. Mobility support is targeted to long-term unemployed (unemployment of at least six months) and who accept a job at least 30 kilometres from home.

 

Praxis together with the Center for Applied Anthropology of Estonia study the effectiveness and impact of the measure. The analysis covers the following questions:

  1. how relevant and necessary is the measure for the target group;
  2. what are the effects of the measure, including effects on geographical mobility, employment and job stability and possible coeffects (both positive and negative);
  3. how cost-effective is the measure.

 

Based on the results of the analysis, suggestions are made towards adapting or improving this particular or similar labour market measures in the future.

The research is based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Quantitative analysis relies on the data from different registries (Unemployment Insurance Fund, data on taxes and employment registry), making use of counterfactual impact evaluation. Qualitative analysis relies on document analysis and interviews with experts from Unemployment Insurance Fund (policy implementation and development) and people, who have been granted mobility support during 2017-2018. As a result, the qualitative and quantitative research methods are complementing each other.