The Public Employment Service in Austria, Germany, and Sweden

Focuses on the role of the public employment service in relation to the unemployed. The policies pursued by Austria, Germany, and Sweden in this domain are similar in several respects. Above all, the three countries combine some of the most extensive social safety nets with a traditionally strong policy commitment to the active goals of labor market policy, such as job search assistance and the enhancement of of workforce skills. In all three countries, the employment service coordinates the three principal types of public intervention of importance to the unemployed: unemployment compensation, job counseling, and brokerage, and admission of individuals to active labor market programs. The report examines these three core functions and discusses some problems relating to the efficient implementation.