International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation, edited by Gunther Schmid, Jaqueline O’Reilly, and Klaus Schomann. Glos, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 1996,954 pp.

Reviewed by: EUNICE RODRIGUEZ

Edited by the director and two senior research fellows of the Research Unit of Labour Market Policy and Employment at the Social Science Research Center in Berlin, Germany, the Inter- national Handbook includes contributions from over 37 renowned researchers from several European countries, Canada, and the U.S. This impressive enterprise includes a number of significant contributions to the fields of evaluation and labor market policy, and provides a rigorous overview and up-to-date guide to the evaluation of labor market policies to confront unemployment and its negative consequences.

The book is organized in four sections. In the first section, the different theories and methods used in the evaluation of labor market policy are analyzed. The second part of the book contains a discussion of the results of previous evaluation research in selected target areas and contexts. In the third section, institutional frameworks of labor market policies are evaluated, while the fourth and final section contains a critical examination of monitoring and information systems at the European level, and concludes with specific suggestions to improve policy design and evaluation.

A major contribution of this handbook is the presentation and organization of a target-ori- ented approach to the evaluation of labor policies. In contrast to the traditional approach of program-oriented evaluation that focuses on individual policies and programs, the editors emphasize “the need to conceptualize and analyze the links, interrelationships and cumulative impacts of different labour market policies” (p.4). The intent is not to replace program evalu- ation, but to add to it by organizing accumulated knowledge in a rigorous way. As described by Schmid at the recent conference of the European Evaluation Society in Stockholm (March

Eunice Rodriguez l Assistant Professor, Department of Policy Analysis and Management, N136A MVR Hall, Cornell Uni- versity, Ithaca, NY 148534401.

American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1998, pp. 437438. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1098-2140 Copyright 0 1998 by American Evaluation Association.

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1997), target-oriented evaluation research “is a theory-driven approach that rests on a set of general theoretical notions about the functioning of labour markets and the role of policy for- mation, policy implementation and policy adjustment in modifying market processes and

market outcomes (oral statement recorded only in this reviewer’s notes).” This includes a “bottom-up” perspective, because it encompasses assessing policy impacts from the perspec-

tive of all relevant agents involved.

In the second part of the book, the different authors analyze in detail examples of policy goals or “targets’‘-such as facilitating school-to-work transitions, increasing job opportuni-

ties for the hard-to-place, effecting labor adjustments through part-time work, and implement-

ing policies to address discrimination and equal opportunity-and discuss the methodological approaches used to evaluate them. While the examples provide an extensive overview of eval- uation of labor market policies, an obvious omission is the assessment of their impact on the

health status and overall well-being of the population. The use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques is emphasized and integrated,

especially in the context of process evaluation of policy formation and implementation. On the other hand, while use of a broad variety of methodologies is viewed as necessary to pro-

vide substantive evidence on the different areas of labor research, the targeted experiment- with all its shortcomings-is still considered one of the most advanced evaluation methodol- ogies available, and it is noted that the standards of experimental research in Europe are still

behind those of the US. The authors recommend an increase in the use of random-assignment

experiments for the evaluation of policy changes and implementation in the European context. This is consistent with one of the key propositions of the advocated target approach: labor

market programs work differently under different conditions. These conditions include both the economic environment and the institutional framework (i.e., policy, implementation, and

incentive regimes), and it is of paramount importance to understand the dynamics and condi- tions under which a specific policy could be more or less successful.

After moving from the micro to the macro level of analysis, the final chapter outlines the importance of monitoring as a complement to any evaluation. While monitoring systems are

mostly regarded as a very practical complement or alternative to other research methods, the authors point out the inadequacies of the existing systems, and the problems that most coun- tries face in improving them. In addition to important issues such as having clear-cut goals and

using financial as well as physical indicators of performance, Auer and Kruppe conclude that

a very important aspect of monitoring is acceptance: “Only a dialogue between the observers and the observed, especially when it comes to defining the goals to be. set and monitored, is

likely to bring about satisfactory results” (p. 921). Overall, the handbook is a very serious and successful effort to provide an up-to-date

review of the impact of policy decisions in the labor market arena. In trying to achieve this

goal, it furnishes convincing arguments about the need for sound evaluation to inform policy decisions. In addition, the authors make a contribution to the field of evaluation by integrating the existing methodological approaches within a target-oriented approach, while building bridges between evaluators of different countries and continents.