Unemployment and labour shortages often coexist across Europe, largely due to structural mismatches between workers’ skills and employers’ needs. This thesis evaluates the impacts of continuing vocational training (CVT) on labour market outcomes using rich administrative data and advanced causal methods. Chapter 1 examines CVT’s effect on labour supply in France, showing qualifying training increases medium-term employment, especially for older, low-skilled, and foreign-born individuals. Chapter 2 analyses CVT targeted at shortage occupations and finds that, in the long term, such training increases the number of days employed in shortage occupations. However, medium-term effects emerge only for men and under adverse economic conditions. Chapter 3 uses caseworker preferences for training and sanctions as instruments, showing that training may postpone re-employment yet tends to yield positive long-term effects on regular employment, whereas sanctions accelerate labour market entry, although their impact does not persist over time. Overall, effectiveness depends on individual, programme, and local economic characteristics, providing guidance for targeting CVT and activation policies.
Héloïse Burlat (Thu,) studied this question.