This report was prepared by Stewart Butler in the OECD’s Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, under the supervision of Theodora Xenogiani (project leader). Lucy Hulett provided editorial input. Dana Blumin provided statistical and editorial input.
The report would not have been possible without the input of colleagues in Canada. Staff in Employment and Social Development Canada inputted across a number of areas. Jérôme Mercier, Yves Gingras and Laura MacFadgen provided senior level input to support the project. Andy Handouyahia, Georges Awad and Essolaba Aouli provided their extensive expertise and organised a series of virtual fact-finding meetings with stakeholders. Policy, programme and data officials within ESDC have enriched the report with details on the evidence generation and policy making process within their organisation. Discussions with officials from British Colombia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia provided insights on the joint evaluation processes that take place between Provinces and Territories and ESDC and on delivery of active labour market policies within those areas. Large sections of the report are based on this engagement.
Thanks are also given to colleagues in the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) in Switzerland and the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment (STAR) for providing insights about how their institutions use data to produce analysis of their labour market programmes. The report benefitted from discussions with Patrick Arni (University of Bristol) on the implementation of randomised control trials in Switzerland. Jeffrey Smith (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Michael Lechner (University of St. Gallen, Swiss Institute for Empirical Economic Research) provided reflections on their work to provide ESDC advice on the outputs and methodology for the Labour Market Development Agreements evaluation.
Comments on earlier drafts of the report were provided by Stefano Scarpetta, Mark Keese, Sofia Dromundo and Judd Ormsby at the OECD.