Placement as a public responsibility and as a private service

Abstract

"A major reorganization has taken place in the field of job placement throughout the world. This has affected both the players involved, i.e. in the co-ordination of public and private placement organizations, and caused a thorough reform of public placement services. The present study - based on a broad international comparison - addresses both of these aspects. The so-called 'placement monopoly' was abolished in nine of the 28 countries covered in the study and private placement was admitted for all occupational groups in the course of this decade. The study arrives at three conclusions about the effects of such liberalization. Firstly, there seems to be hardly any competition between public and private placement services. Rather it seems that private placement services complement the public ones. Secondly, there are a number of reasons in favour of co-operation between public and private placement services, but such opportunities are as yet insufficiently used. Thirdly, it takes a considerable period of time for the private agencies to find their feet and assert themselves in the reformed countries after the implementation of liberalization. Public placement services were reorganized to maximize the effect of scare public resources. The main focus is the extent and type of public intervention in private searches. Taking at great number of examples this study seeks to show the different types of reforms which have been made and what the motives for each were. The reforms had three priority aspects: customer orientation, decentralization and evaluation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Walwei, U. (1996): Placement as a public responsibility and as a private service. An international comparative perspective of the reorganization of placement systems. In: IAB Labour Market Research Topics No. 17, p. 1-24.