Beschreibung

"Since the early 1990s the tasks and the organisation of job placement in Western Europe have been undergoing comprehensive changes. Private agencies are beginning to play a more important role. The private sector has experienced a boom, and this trends seems to be continuing, also as a result of ongoing deregulation tendencies and lean government strategies. In addition, the whole business of job placement is being largely affected by the rapid development of information and communication technologies. Especially the Internet provides excellent opportunities for improving labour market transparency and searches either for jobs or for workers. Not least, the changes are also a response to new demands arising from recent labour market developments in Europe. After a long period of mass unemployment many countries in Western Europe are being confronted increasingly with skill gaps. In addition, the growing number of non-standard work arrangements, such as new types of self-employment, part-time employment and temporary work, constitutes a challenge for all intermediaries. The changing composition of work arrangements may attract new customers and may have new needs and require new services. The paper starts with considerations about the role of placement services as intermediaries in the labour market. It continues with a categorisation of placement providers and an overwiew of alternative approaches regarding the institutional setting of matching services. In its main part the paper examines different placement systems in four European countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom). The final section of the paper summarises the results of the four case studies and concludes with remarks on the prospects for placement services in Europe." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))