The purpose of this study was to investigate the economic consequences of active labour market measures targeted for those who are difficult to employ; the study was conducted using the cases of rehabilitative work activity and the highest-level increased pay subsidy for third sector employers as test cases. The active labour market policy measures selected as the objects of this study – pay subsidy and rehabilitative work activity – can be seen as social investments relating to active labour policy and active social policy, and aiming at improving the employability of the unemployed. Because both measures are intended for helping job-seekers that require a great deal of support and have several issues with their wellbeing and coping with life, both measures are geared, to a greater extent than other employment services, to social impacts and the strengthening of the participants’ health, wellbeing and civil participation. The method applied and also tested in the study – simple decision model – is founded on economic evaluation. The approach was developed and first applied in Great Britain for the evaluation of mental health promotion and mental illness prevention activities, community capital-building initiatives and social care interventions. This approach enables at least a rough estimate of the economic consequences of measures even when the research data concerning their effectiveness is insufficient. In this approach, outcomes are expressed in terms of money where possible. This study did not try to assign monetary value to wellbeing but it estimated the cost savings in the utilisation of services due to increasing wellbeing. According to the selected approach, in the first phase, we established an understanding on the basis of literature and expert cooperation concerning the pathways that produce the economic consequences of labour market measures. The study identified as many as four pathways: a) employment followed by unemployment benefits being replaced by wages, b) the clarification of the plans for the future of the unemployed and e.g. their starting in education, c) a reduction in the need for social and health services and in the respective costs due to increasing wellbeing, and d) improved everyday management, civil participation and active citizenship followed by wellbeing and benefits to the immediate community. We obtained our data on the probability of employment and the costs and outcomes related to the highest-level increased pay subsidy and rehabilitative work activity from earlier research literature, statistics and labour administration experts. The utilisation of health services and the changes in it were analysed using the data from the study Terveys 2011 (Health 2011) by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Even though finalised research data were not available for all pathways, it was possible to populate the model and complete the calculations on the employment pathway and also partly on the wellbeing pathway, thereby testing the applicability of the model for the evaluation of the economic consequences of employment promotion measures. A separate evaluation was conducted to investigate the impacts of the measures on the distribution of such income transfer costs and wage costs that are associated with people’s livelihood. The benefits of the highest-level increased pay subsidy exceeded the costs while the costs of rehabilitative work activity exceeded the benefits. Our results can be considered as rough indicators of the economic consequences of the highest-level increased pay subsidy and rehabilitative work activity. The largest payer of employment promotion measures is the state, and the beneficiaries include municipalities and domestic households. If the time spent 5 on rehabilitative work activity is included in calculations as an opportunity cost, it changes the role of households from beneficiaries to payers. To obtain more specific information concerning the economic consequences of employment promotion measures, we must be able to distinguish between the outcomes of employment promotion measures and those of other factors. For purposes of economic evaluation, it is also necessary to systematise the registration and collection of data regarding employment promotion measures and their participants.