Job placement and guidance services in practice : an analysis of labour market service processes

Abstract

"The labour market reforms of the last years were adopted with the purpose of providing and securing 'modern services on the labour market'. These services form the link between legislation and the citizens affected by unemployment. The quality of these services determines the success of the legal regulations. The research project 'Service processes on the labour market' is aimed at increasing the level of knowledge about specific (street-level) service provision in job placement and counseling activities. Based on a rich and unique data source, the current study presents new insights of actual practice at German employment offices and jobcenters.<br> By observing the courses of individual cases, by analyzing documents and by conducting qualitative interviews, the analytical assessment of the service processes leads to rather ambiguous results. On the one hand, it is obvious that staff usually deal with their customers and customer demands in a positive, responsive way - an aspect not so much taken into account so far. Record-keeping of guidance activies works reasonably well, too. On the other hand, however, the quality of the placement and counseling services varies considerably. Qualified staff clearly dominates the talks, and defining objectives or targets partially takes place without the reasonable participation of the persons concerned. Moreover, the case treatment does not always address substantial individual problems adequately. In sum, this rich and multi-layered analysis of job placement and guidance services of employment offices and jobcenters reveals clear references for future improvements in job placement and guidance services." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Schütz, H., Steinwede, J., Schröder, H., Kaltenborn, B., Wielage, N., Christe, G. & Kupka, P. (2011): Vermittlung und Beratung in der Praxis. Eine Analyse von Dienstleistungsprozessen am Arbeitsmarkt. (IAB-Bibliothek 330), Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 331 p. DOI:10.3278/300755w