The Role Of The Caseworker In The Reintegration Process

In order to keep the Dutch welfare system affordable, the municipalities should aim for their reintegration process of welfare recipients to paid labor to be efficient. There is no uniform one-size-fits-all reintegration program; researchers are divided about the optimal method for caseworkers to shape this process, and caseworkers are currently relying on their instinct and experience. Previous studies have demonstrated that the shaping of the reintegration process currently is too dependent on the caseworker’s personal style, and too little on the welfare recipients’ characteristics. Specifically, these studies have suggested that there is heterogeneity among caseworkers in their effectiveness in having the welfare recipients flow out of the welfare system, both in general and for specific welfare recipient characteristics. Welfare recipients are currently allocated randomly to caseworkers, and if caseworkers are indeed more or less effective with some welfare recipient profiles than with others, random allocation seems suboptimal. This study examines whether this heterogeneity in caseworker effectiveness is present in Rotterdam as well, using data from the municipality of Rotterdam on the welfare recipients that have entered their welfare system in 2014 or 2015. Besides general caseworker effectiveness, specific effectiveness in terms of gender, age and welfare recipients with psychological limitations have been analyzed as well. Results indicate that about 10-15% of the caseworkers are significantly different in their effectiveness than the mean, and around 9% of all caseworkers in the sample are significantly more or less effective with females, older people or with welfare recipients with psychological limitations. These findings suggest that there are possible efficiency gains in the reintegration process, if the welfare recipients’ personal characteristics are being considered in the allocation of welfare recipients among caseworkers.