Improving job-matching through placement services

Abstract

"The organization and the institutional regulation of job placement are currently undergoing comprehensive changes. New challenges and some criticism have led to efforts to reform public employment services, which are still the most important provider of placement services in most countries. The foermerly bureaucrats establishments are developing more and more into customeroriented service organizations. With the completion of the Single European Market, further progress has been made towards elimination impediments such as an inadequate flow of information about available jobs and job seekers. The European Employment Services network (EURES) was established with the objective of facilitation cross-border mobility. Private agencies are also beginning to play a more important role in the area of job placement. The private sector experienced a boom, particulary in the 1970s and 1980s, and this trend seems to be continuing, also as a result of ongoing liberalization tendencies. But not very much is known about the possible effects of these changes on the side of the users of these services or on the labour market as a whole. <br> This chapter starts with some theoretical considerations about the role of placement services as intermediaries in the labour market and continues with an overview of alternative approaches regarding the institutional regulation and organization of job placement. In its main part the chapter examines different approaches taken by previous studies in evaluating the performance as well as the impacts of mediation activities provided by placement services. In the final section I summarize the empirical findings of these studies and conclude with some remarks on perspectives for future evaluation activites in this area." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Walwei, U. (1996): Improving job-matching through placement services. In: G. Schmid, J. O'Reilly & K. Schömann (Hrsg.) (1996): International handbook of labour market policy and evaluation, p. 402-430.