"Other countries have already privatised their job placement systems to a greater extent than Germany has. This concerns such different welfare state regimes as Australia and Great Britain on the one hand and the Netherlands - and more recently also Belgium and Denmark - on the other hand....

"This article examines the consequences of contracting-out on the basis of the four criteria of efficiency, economy, effectiveness and equality (3 or 4 e's concept), which are borrowed from New Public Management research. The paper is based on 76 expert interviews and informative discussions...