ABSTRACT
The effectiveness of hiring subsidies for people with disabilities remains unclear due to potential free-rider, subtitution and signalling effects. The authors propose a novel evaluation approach wherein it is randomly decided wheter or not job applications disclose the subsidy to potential employers. Based on call-back rates for interview, the subsidy is found to be ineffective or even counterproductive in a group of adolescents having completed their vocational training programme. However the negative signalling effect seems to be much weaker in a group of clients of job coaching services who acquired their disability during their working life.