Literature review and methodological background to the Employment Data Lab

The DWP Employment Data Lab was set up to evaluate the impact of employment-related interventions delivered by external organisations. The Employment Data Lab will use linked administrative data to produce robust evidence on the causal impact of these programmes to contribute to the evidence on the effectiveness of different types of employment intervention. 

In the short term the Employment Data Lab wishes to develop a streamlined methodological approach which is suited to producing robust and defensible causal impact estimates for a wide range of different programmes relatively quickly. This report seeks to identify a suitable approach, based on a review of past evaluations of active labour market programmes, as well as the work of the Justice Data Lab, which has similar aims to the Employment Data Lab. It also suggests ways in which the Employment Data Lab could expand and strengthen its work in the future.