Contracting out placement services in Germany : is assignment to private providers effective for needy job-seekers?

"Contracting out placement services aims at enhancing the effectiveness of placements of unemployed job-seekers through market mechanisms. This paper analyses the effectiveness of the temporary assignment of needy job-seekers to private placement services by comparing their outcomes with respect to employment, unemployment and benefit receipt with those of a suitable control group. Using recently available administrative data we apply propensity score matching to construct the control group. We regard a period after a policy reform in 2005 that introduced a new means-tested benefit, the unemployment benefit II, and emphasized the activation of needy unemployed people. Hard-to-place job-seekers usually need more effort to be placed into a job. Therefore it is an interesting question whether groups of people with different a priori employment probabilities benefit to a different extent from an assignment to a private placement service. To answer this question we analyse several subgroups separated by sex, age, migration background, occupational education and time since the last job. Our results suggest that in some cases the assignment to private providers is relatively more effective for groups of job-seekers who are rather hard to place. Despite positive employment effects for some subgroups, however our results imply that the assignment to private providers is generally ineffective and in some subgroups counterproductive regarding the goal of avoiding unemployment and benefit receipt." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))private Arbeitsvermittlung, Vermittlungserfolg, Vermittlungsgutschein, Arbeitsvermittlung, Privatisierung, Hartz-Reform - Erfolgskontrolle, Arbeitsuchende, Zielgruppe, schwervermittelbare Arbeitslose, Beschäftigungseffekte, Arbeitslose, berufliche Reintegration, Integrierte Erwerbsbiografien, IAB-Leistungsempfängerhistorik

Separation of Variables and the Computation of Fourier Transforms on Finite Groups, II

We present a general diagrammatic approach to the construction of efficient algorithms for computing the Fourier transform of a function on a finite group. By extending work which connects Bratteli diagrams to the construction of Fast Fourier Transform algorithms %\cite{sovi}, we make explicit use of the path algebra connection to the construction of Gel'fand-Tsetlin bases and work in the setting of quivers. We relate this framework to the construction of a {\em configuration space} derived from a Bratteli diagram. In this setting the complexity of an algorithm for computing a Fourier transform reduces to the calculation of the dimension of the associated configuration space. Our methods give improved upper bounds for computing the Fourier transform for the general linear groups over finite fields, the classical Weyl groups, and homogeneous spaces of finite groups, while also recovering the best known algorithms for the symmetric group and compact Lie groups.Comment: 53 pages, 5 appendices, 34 figure

If Europe is to tackle its demographic decline it should take lessons from the USA’s comprehensive immigration reforms.

With declining birth rates and an ageing population, Europe is facing the threat of a demographic decline by the middle of the century. Facing similar challenges, the US has recently moved to reform its immigration policies, thus allowing greater numbers of migrants to encourage growth. Sarah Wolff argues for similar reforms for European immigration policies, which until now, have been focused on the promotion of intra-European immigration, whilst securing the EU’s external borders and organising the return of irregular migrants

With Italy’s rescue operation for migrants in the Mediterranean being phased out, it is vital that Frontex is given greater support from EU governments

Italy’s ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation, which has rescued thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean, officially ended on 1 November, although the Italian Navy has continued to conduct some operations. A new operation led by the EU’s external border security agency Frontex, named ‘Triton’, has been launched and will aim to help compensate for the end of the Italian mission. Sarah Wolff writes that while Frontex has been heavily criticised by some policymakers and activists, it is now vital that the agency is given more financial and human resources, as well as the independence required to perform its role effectively

High-Intensity Discharge Lamp and Duffing Oscillator - Similarities and Differences

The processes inside the arc tube of high-intensity discharge lamps are investigated by finite element simulations. The behavior of the gas mixture inside the arc tube is governed by differential equations describing mass, energy and charge conservation as well as the Helmholtz equation for the acoustic pressure and the Navier-Stokes equation for the flow driven by the buoyancy and the acoustic streaming force. The model is highly nonlinear and requires a recursion procedure to account for the impact of acoustic streaming on the temperature and other fields. The investigations reveal the presence of a hysteresis and the corresponding jump phenomenon, quite similar to a Duffing oscillator. The similarities and, in particular, the differences of the nonlinear behavior of the high-intensity discharge lamp to that of a Duffing oscillator are discussed. For large amplitudes the high-intensity discharge lamp exhibits a stiffening effect in contrast to the Duffing oscillator.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Contracting out placement services in Germany: is assignment to private providers effective for needy job-seekers?

"Contracting out placement services aims at enhancing the effectiveness of placements of unemployed job-seekers through market mechanisms. This paper analyses the effectiveness of the temporary assignment of needy job-seekers to private placement services by comparing their outcomes with respect to employment, unemployment and benefit receipt with those of a suitable control group. Using recently available administrative data we apply propensity score matching to construct the control group. We regard a period after a policy reform in 2005 that introduced a new means-tested benefit, the unemployment benefit II, and emphasized the activation of needy unemployed people. Hard-to-place job-seekers usually need more effort to be placed into a job. Therefore it is an interesting question whether groups of people with different a priori employment probabilities benefit to a different extent from an assignment to a private placement service. To answer this question we analyse several subgroups separated by sex, age, migration background, occupational education and time since the last job. Our results suggest that in some cases the assignment to private providers is relatively more effective for groups of job-seekers who are rather hard to place. Despite positive employment effects for some subgroups, however our results imply that the assignment to private providers is generally ineffective and in some subgroups counterproductive regarding the goal of avoiding unemployment and benefit receipt." (author's abstract)"Zentrales Ziel der Einbindung privater Vermittlungsdienstleister - über so genannte Beauftragungen Dritter mit der gesamten Vermittlung - ist die Einführung von Wettbewerb. Über den Marktmechanismus soll sich die Effektivität der Arbeitsvermittlung erhöhen. Die Studie untersucht die Effektivität der zeitlich begrenzten Überweisung von Arbeitslosengeld-II-Empfängern an private Vermittlungsdienstleister und vergleicht deren Arbeitsmarktergebnisse hinsichtlich regulärer Beschäftigung, der Vermeidung von Arbeitslosigkeit und Arbeitslosengeld-II-Bezug mit denen einer geeigneten Kontrollgruppe. Die Kontrollgruppe wurde auf Basis von Prozessdaten mit Hilfe von statistischen Propensity-Score-Matching gebildet. Im Blickpunkt der Untersuchung steht der Zeitraum nach Inkrafttreten des vierten Gesetzes für moderne Dienstleistungen am Arbeitsmarkt im Jahr 2005. Mit diesem so genannten IV. Hartz-Gesetz wurde das bedarfsorientierte Arbeitslosengeld II eingeführt und gleichzeitig die Betonung auf die Aktivierung arbeitsloser Hilfebedürftiger gelegt. Schwer vermittelbare Arbeitslose in Beschäftigung zu bringen, erfordert in der Regel größere Anstrengungen. Es ist daher eine interessante Frage, ob Menschen mit a priori unterschiedlichen Beschäftigungschancen auch unterschiedlich von ihrer Überweisung an private Vermittlungsdienstleister profitieren. Um diese Frage zu beantworten, werden verschiedene Teilgruppen getrennt nach Geschlecht, Alter, Migrationshintergrund, beruflicher Ausbildung und Dauer seit der letzten Beschäftigung analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in einigen Fällen die Überweisung an private Vermittler relativ wirksamer für solche Gruppen von Arbeitsuchenden ist, die eher schwer zu vermitteln sind. Trotz positiver Beschäftigungseffekte für einige Teilgruppen zeigen die Ergebnisse insgesamt jedoch, dass die Überweisung an private Vermittler im Allgemeinen ineffektiv und für einige Teilgruppen in Bezug auf die Vermeidung von Arbeitslosigkeit und Arbeitslosengeld-II-Bezug kontraproduktiv ist." (Autorenreferat