Impact evaluation of the graduate practice intervention using the cart method

Abstract

The contribution for graduate practice is one of the measures of active labour market policy in Slovakia aimed at gaining first job experience and contacts for young school graduates. The main aim of the study is a counterfactual impact evaluation of this contribution on the employability of its participants. The evaluation is aimed at the period 2015–2017 and realised using the database of 12,953 treated eligible participants of Graduate practice and 83,907 non–treated controls. For the evaluation, propensity score matching was used, where the propensity scores were estimated by the method of Classification and Regression Trees. The results of the study show that treated individuals were employed on average three months longer and had an average salary of € 216.76 higher than non-treated during the 24–months impact period after the intervention.