The paper analyses the effect of the public training programme of the National Employment Institute (INEM) for unemployed workers on employment prospects. Two groups of Spanish unemployed workers are compared between April 2000 and February 2001, one of which participated in training courses in the first quarter of 2000. Propensity score matching methodology is used to assess the causal effect of training courses on unemployment duration. The results suggest that mediumlevel courses reduce unemployment duration more than courses at other levels. The trained women reduce their unemployment spell more than the trained men, although the differences are not high enough to reduce the gender gap in the labour market significantly.

Key words: active labour market policies, training courses, unemployment duration and propensity score matching.
JEL classification: C31, J64, J68..