The British Employment Service increasingly relies on private providers. Arguably, the Employment Zone initiative provides a radical example of contracting out. Since 2000, long-term unemployed people in 13 local areas have been receiving employment reintegration services through private...

"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...

Established economic forecasts are generally based on complex econometric models which include a wide array of input variables. The Allensbach Institute, one of Germany's leading opinion poll institutes, poses a question at the end of each year asking Germans about their expectations for the...

The economic and fi nancial crisis has hit Spain harder than practically any other country in Europe. Even if there are occasional reports that the Spanish economy is improving slightly, the unemployment rate remains at 25 per cent — and is as high as 54 per cent among Spain’s young people....

This book argues that active labour market policies are necessary to improve the position of the unemployed but have so far performed relatively poorly. The contributing authors seek ways to improve active labour market policy and consider three means of doing so: improving the quality by better...

The British Employment Service increasingly relies on private providers. Arguably, the Employment Zone initiative provides a radical example of contracting out. Since 2000, long-term unemployed people in 13 local areas have been receiving employment reintegration services through private...

The contracting-out of job brokerage and case management services is a major international trend in the reform of the Public Employment Service. Instead of a public agency, private providers are contracted to deliver these services for the jobseekers. Australia and the Netherlands have...

The twin predicaments of German labour market performance and welfare state performance triggered an ongoing debate on reforming the German model. Recently, this debate has yielded an outcome in the form of the so-called Hartz laws, a bundle of labour market policies aimed at the reduction of...

Die Stärkung privater Strukturen in der Arbeitsverwaltung steht nicht nur in Deutschland als Folge der Hartz-Kommission im Zentrum des politischen Interesses. Andere Länder, beispielweise Australien, haben diesbezüglich schon weitreichende Reformen implementiert. Daher lohnt ein Blick auf die...