Contracting-out and governance mechanisms in the public employment service

"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 contracted-out (almost) all of this formerly core public service. The U.K. has introduced so-called Employment Zones, in which private providers are responsible for long-term unemployed and thus replace the public Jobcentre Plus for this target-group. Based on agency theory, the paper analyses and compares the... Mehr ...