Key Developments, Role and Organization of Public Employment Services in Great Britain, Belgium-Flanders and Germany
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Key developments, role and organization of Public Employment Services in Great Britain, Belgium-Flanders and Germany Dan Finn & Miguel Peromingo Overview by Michael Mwasikakata EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR MARKET POLICIES BRANCH EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT KEY DEVELOPMENTS, ROLE AND ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT SERVICES IN GREAT BRITAIN, BELGIUM-FLANDERS AND GERMANY DAN FINN & MIGUEL PEROMINGO OVERVIEW BY MICHAEL MWASIKAKATA EMPLOYMENT AND LABOUR MARKET POLICIES BRANCH EMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT Copyright © International Labour Organization 2019 First published 2019 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. 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Printed in Switzerland TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword .........................................................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 1. Overview- key features of the role and organization of Public Employment Services in Great Britain, Flanders-Belgium and Germany .......................8 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 9 1.1 National Context and PES history .................................................................................. 10 1.2 PES policy and strategy ............................................................................................................13 1.3 PES structure, management and functions ..........................................................15 1.4 PES functions, service organization and delivery mechanisms .............19 1.5 Institutional Capacity of PES .............................................................................................. 30 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................................33 CHAPTER 2. The role, organization and services of the British Public Employment Service - Jobcentre Plus ........................................................................................... 34 2.1 National Context and History of Public Employment Service – Jobcentre Plus ................................................................................................................................35 2.2 PES policy and strategy in Great Britain ....................................................................39 2.3 PES structure, management and functions ........................................................44 2.4 PES Service Organization and Delivery in Great Britain .............................. 50 2.5 The Institutional Capacity of the British PES ......................................................... 67 Annex 1 ............................................................................................................................................................... 74 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................................75 CHAPTER 3. The role, organization and services of the Belgian-Flemish Public Employment Service: Vlaamse Dienst vor Arbeidsbemiddeling (VDAB) ....................... 78 3.1 National context and history of VDAB ........................................................................ 79 3.2 VDAB policy and strategy ..................................................................................................... 82 3.3 VDAB structure, management and functions ..................................................... 87 3.4 Service and Delivery ..................................................................................................................94 3.5 Institutional capacity of VDAB ........................................................................................100 3.6 Lessons Learned ......................................................................................................................... 102 Annex 2 ..............................................................................................................................................................103 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 106 CHAPTER 4. The role, organization and services of the German Public Employment Service: Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) .......................................................... 108 4.1 National context and reforms of BA ........................................................................... 109 4.2 BA policy and strategy .............................................................................................................111 4.3 BA structure, management and functions ............................................................114 4.4 Service and Delivery ..................................................................................................................121 4.5 Institutional capacity of BA ................................................................................................128 4.6 Lessons Learned ..........................................................................................................................130 Annex 3 ..............................................................................................................................................................132 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................136 3 KEY DEVELOPMENTS, ROLE AND ORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT SERVICES IN GREAT BRITAIN, BELGIUM-FLANDERS AND GERMANY FOREWORD 4 The world of work is in a constant flux, not only from disruptive technological advances that lead to some jobs being destroyed, changed or new jobs created, and to changes in skills composition, but also from massive demographic shifts leading to ageing and shortage of labour supply in some regions and high population or labour force growth and the potential problem of the youth bulge in others, in addition to globalization and the rise in the importance of global value chains. The impact of these phenomena is increased mobility of workers, both forced and labour migrants. Workers will have to make many transitions in the labour market as permanent work is no longer feasible for all nor universally desirable as workers balance work and life. Public Employment Services (PES), in collaboration with private and other employment service providers, are at the centre of these changes in the labour market and bear the responsibility of accompanying both workers and employers through the transitions and in serving workers with increasing diverse needs and challenges. In addition, PES has to adapt and cope with shrinking resources from the national budget due to fiscal consolidation policies amid increasing volume and complexity of demands from its clients and find ways of doing more with less but at the same time meeting the demands of its clients effectively. In order to do this, PES are in constant search of solutions through reforms and policy experimentation. Moreover, low developing and emerging countries, despite their weak institutional and financial capacity, are increasingly recognizing the vital role employment services can play in their labour markets, if not just to improve the high labour market information asymmetries, in formalising the informal