Employer orientation in the German public employment service

Abstract

"Through the introduction of welfare states and social policy, owners of labour power acquired alternatives to the permanent sale of their labour. Entitlements to social security created the conditions for a strategic temporary withholding of labour. Based on qualitative data, this article presents empirical evidence of trends towards recommodification in Germany, i.e. a reduction in the possibilities for decommodification, as a result of a new employer orientation in the public employment service (PES). The findings highlight an increased employer orientation as well as a differentiation and specialisation in placement work leading to a shift in the placement rationale encountered in the local branches of the German PES. A pure market orientation is seen to increasingly replace the social policy mandate of the PES. Strengthening employer-oriented placement services implies, on the one hand, a professionalisation of services and, on the other, a further recommodification of labour." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Sowa, F., Reims, N. & Theuer, S. (2015): Employer orientation in the German public employment service. In: Critical social policy, Vol. 34, No. 4, p. 492-511. DOI:10.1177/0261018315601040