TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Cobb-Clark, Deborah A.
AU  - Ryan, Chris
AU  - Breunig, Robert
        TI  - A Couples-Based Approach to the Problem of Workless Families
        PY  - 2003/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 864
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp864
        AB  - The goal of this paper is to evaluate a “couples-based” policy intervention designed to reduce
the number of Australian families without work. In 2000 and 2001, the Australian Government
piloted a new counseling initiative targeted towards couple-headed families with dependent
children in which neither partner was in paid employment. Selected women on family benefits
(who were partnered with men receiving unemployment benefits) were randomly invited to
participate in an interview process designed to identify strategies for increasing economic
and social participation. While some women were interviewed on their own, others
participated in a joint interview with their partners. Our results indicate that the overall effect
of the interview process led to lower hours of work among family benefit recipients in the
intervention group than the control group, but to greater participation and hours in job search
and in study or training for work-related reasons. At the same time, there are few significant
differences in the effect of the interview process on the economic and social activity of
women interviewed with and without their unemployed partners.
        KW  - treatment effects
KW  - income-support policy
KW  - randomized experiment
        ER  -