Evaluation research of the new targeted employment policies in Flanders based on a reduction of social contributions to the employer

This research aims to evaluate the so-called targeted employment policies in the Flemish Region of Belgium for the first time after its regionalization in 2014. The instrument used consists of targeted hiring subsidies for employers through a reduction in social security contributions. These are (mostly) newly recruited employees in the lowest wage categories belonging to one of the following three groups: low and middle qualified young people, older employees, and disabled people. These types of reduction of social contributions came into force on 1 July 2016 and replaced other Flemish and federal measures (including the Activa measures), which slowly extinguished. From 1 January 2017, the Flemish government also introduced a financial incentive to employers to recruit long-term job-seekers. The aim of this research is to evaluate the gross and net impact of the targeted policies on new hirings and their cost.