Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn a randomised controlled trial in Austria, lowering caseloads for caseworkers in a Public Employment Office led to more meetings with unemployed clients, more job offers, more programme assignments, and more sanctions for noncompliance with job search requirements. It shortened unemployment spells through faster job entry, but also through more exits from the labour force in the 2 years following treatment. The duration of unemployment was reduced for a number of subgroups of the unemployed, but not all benefited from increased employment. For women and foreigners, lower caseloads led to more time out of the labour force. The quality of jobs after unemployment, measured by wages, did not change. A cost–benefit analysis suggests that lower caseloads not only shorten unemployment but also save public costs.

The German Federal government has allowed local governments of some regions (Approved Local Providers) to be solely responsible for the care of unemployment benefit II recipients. In the remaining regions Joint Local Agencies were formed, where the local social benefit administrations work together with the local public employment services. We find that despite positive self-selection Approved Local Providers do not perform better than Joint Local Agencies. Even more interestingly, using a unique data set on organisational characteristics we are able to show that the organisational features implemented primarily by Approved Local Providers are positively correlated with the job finding probability of the unemployment benefits II recipients. Thus, local governments that self-selected into Approved Local Providers seem to have implemented a better organisational structure. However, their relatively poor performance overall compared to Joint Local Agencies suggests that they underestimated the benefits of having the local public employment service merged with the local social benefit administration.

PurposeConcerning the decision-making of frontline bureaucrats, research has suggested that caseworkers take into account a broader range of legal, organisational, professional and personal aspects. Their decision-making can offset social rights, when it neglects policy goals, but it can support social rights if the decisions consider clients' perspective.Design/methodology/approachBased on a factorial survey experiment with 197 Viennese caseworkers of the employment service, the caseworkers were asked how likely they would be to refer nine different typical clients to the introductory session for the programme "Women into Technical and Craft Professions", whereby different dimensions were altered to grasp regulations and clients' perspective.FindingsIn the multilevel analysis, the interest of the clients in a technical-educational programme demonstrates the strongest positive effect, which complies with the programme's political intention. Other pertinent criteria may support clients' interests and the organizational performance goals, but neglect clients' position, when they counteract performance goals. Primarily, caseworkers do what they must and follow mandatory and performance criteria.Research limitations/implicationsOn the caseworker's level, further research should aim to reach larger samples. Furthermore, the impact of performance goals on caseworker's decision making has to regard different professional groups beside personnel and labour market experts.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that a focus on the micro-level is needed to evaluate the impact of social policies. The practitioner's position is crucial to juggling legal goals and client's need.Social implicationsPerformance goals ought to better reflect social rights on a broader scale.Originality/valueThis article provides new evidence on the level of discretion caseworkers execute.

Abstract
The article deals with an institutional reform of public employment services implemented in the Czech Republic in 2011. By merging social benefits administration with employment services into the newly established Labour Office of the Czech Republic, the right-wing government attempted to reduce the staffing and administrative costs of these services and to improve the governance of local labour offices. Using the theoretical concept of "policy fiasco" and taking an interpretive perspective thereon, we analyse these organisational changes in the functioning of public employment services in the Czech Republic. Our data consist of interviews with experts on labour market policy in the Czech Republic and two focus groups with employees of labour offices who had participated in the reform process. We conclude that the institutional reform of public employment services in the Czech Republic in 2011 can be referred to as a policy fiasco in the sense of the theoretical concept used in the work of Bovens and t'Hart (1998).

Von den 2005 in Deutschland registrierten 4,86 Millionen Arbeitslosen gehörten 36 Prozent zu den sogenannten Langzeitarbeitslosen. Diese Quote gehört zu den höchsten Europas. Die in der Jahren 2003 bis 2005 durchgeführten Arbeitsmarktreformen zielten auf die Überwindung dieses Zustandes. Die Reformgesetze Hartz I - IV verfolgen eine dreistufige Strategie: 1. Verbesserung der Leistungen der Arbeitsvermittlung, 2. Aktivierung der Arbeitslosen, 3. Stärkung der Nachfrage nach Arbeitskräften durch Deregulierung des Arbeitsmarktes. Ausgangspunkt und Kernstück der Reformen war die Reorganisation der öffentlichen Arbeitsvermittlung mit der Neuordnung der Zuständigkeiten der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) gemäß SGB III und den lokalen und kommunalen Behörden (ARGE) nach SGB II. Die Autoren erläutern die politischen Maßnahmen und ihre Umsetzung und die wissenschaftlichen Instrumente zur Messung und Evaluierung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des in Kooperation mit der Harvard-University entwickelten Evaluierungssystems 'Treatment Effect and Prediction (TrEffeR)'. Nach ihrer Einschätzung können die TrEffeR-Programme durch eine Verbesserung des effektiven Einsatzes maßgeschneiderter Maßnahmen zur Aktivierung des Arbeitsmarktes dazu beitragen, die individuelle Dauer von Arbeitslosigkeit zu verkürzen und damit das Abgleiten in die Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit zu verhindern. Forschungsmethode: deskriptive Studie. (IAB).

The German Federal government has allowed some regions (Approved Local Providers) to be solely responsible for the care of long-term unemployed. The remaining regions had to form Joint Local Agencies, where the local social benefit administrations work together with the local public employment services. We find that despite positive self-selection Approved Local Providers do not perform better than Joint Local Agencies. Even more interestingly, using a unique data set on organisational characteristics we are able to show that the organisational features implemented primarily by Approved Local Providers are positively correlated with the job finding probability of the long-term unemployed. Thus, regions that self-selected into Approved Local Providers seem to have implemented a better organisational structure. However, their relatively poor performance overall compared to Joint Local Agencies suggests that they underestimated the benefits of having the local public employment service merged with the local social benefit administration.

The German Federal government has allowed some regions (Approved Local Providers) to be solely responsible for the care of long-term unemployed. The remaining regions had to form Joint Local Agencies, where the local social benefit administrations work together with the local public employment services. We find that despite positive self-selection Approved Local Providers do not perform better than Joint Local Agencies. Even more interestingly, using a unique data set on organisational characteristics we are able to show that the organisational features implemented primarily by Approved Local Providers are positively correlated with the job finding probability of the long-term unemployed. Thus, regions that self-selected into Approved Local Providers seem to have implemented a better organisational structure. However, their relatively poor performance overall compared to Joint Local Agencies suggests that they underestimated the benefits of having the local public employment service merged with the local social benefit administration.

The Covid-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressure to accelerate public employment services (PES) digitalisation across Europe. In fact, there is now a considerable amount of funding dedicated to that goal in broadband policy packages, such as the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. This pressure for digitalizing PES presumes that its benefits outweigh the existing risks, regardless of citizens' singularities, such as vulnerable young people going through the school-to-work transition. Bearing that in mind, and following a bioecological model framework, our article addresses two main goals. Firstly, based on a targeted literature review, we detail the challenges and possibilities posed by PES digitalisation for vulnerable young people in EU countries, which have been widely overlooked in the literature. We specifically argue that despite several practical advantages (e.g., releasing staff from time-consuming administrative tasks), PES digitalisation will only be beneficial for vulnerable young people if three interrelated challenges are taken into account: nurturing trust in institutions and digital tools, supporting digital transformation of PES institutional organization, and adopting a co-design lens for PES digitalisation. Secondly, using a knowledge integration approach, we describe a model for assessing PES capacity to digitally support rural young people not in employment, education, or training to enter the labour market. We conclude that the overemphasis on the expected advances of overall PES digitalisation must be followed by thoughtful consideration of PES digitalisation processes to ensure EU social inclusion targets for the younger generations.

Die voranschreitende Transformation vom versorgenden zum aktivierenden Sozialstaat und die Einführung von New Public Management veränderten die Anforderungen an das berufliche Handeln von Beschäftigten (semi-)staatlicher Institutionen. Gefordert sind höhere Effizienz und Effektivität öffentlicher Dienstleistungen sowie BürgerInnennähe, also kundenorientierte Interaktionsarbeit statt bürokratischer Verwaltungsarbeit. Unser Beitrag fokussiert auf diese Prozesse im Feld der öffentlichen Arbeitsvermittlung in drei Untersuchungsländern (A/D/CH). Die Maxime "Fördern und Fordern" richtet sich in ähnlicher Weise an die Erwerbslosen aller drei Länder und begründet ein Doppelmandat der ArbeitsvermittlerInnen: Sie sind dazu angehalten, den Arbeitsuchenden beratend und motivierend zur Seite zu stehen sowie deren individuelle Bemühungen im Rahmen der Stellensuche zu kontrollieren. Mit den steigenden Anforderungen an die moralische Unterstützung und Motivation der KlientInnen nimmt die Beratungstätigkeit die Form affektiver Interaktionsarbeit an. Gleichzeitig werden in den Interaktionen symbolische Herrschaftsverhältnisse konstituiert, die auf neue Formen affektiver Gouvernmentalität schließen lassen.

The Covid-19 pandemic provoked critical changes to welfare in Europe, requiring the dematerialisation of programmes and services while relying mainly on remote support. This study aims to present insights into how European public employment services have coped and adapted to the pandemic challenges, particularly regarding the digitalisation and delivery of services to young people in rural areas. It focuses on three case studies from distinct European regions: Portugal, Bulgaria, and Lithuania. It is based on an exploratory survey of public employment services national offices and qualitative data collected from public employment services offices in rural settings. It highlights the advantages and dangers of the adoption of digitalisation processes, namely considering literacy and accessibility in diverse contexts. It concludes that despite cultural and regional differences, all three countries evidenced an acceleration in service provision due to digitalisation and were capable of adjusting their practices to remote delivery. However, rural areas faced delays due to poor infrastructure, and after the pandemic, public employment privileged on-site delivery, since it is considered more effective in the training and counselling of young people.