the relationship between pes and employers as social...

1

The Relationship

between

PES and Employers

as Social Dialogue

～ The International Comparative

Research Project～

by

Erika Horiba

Ministry of

Health, Labour

and Welfare

JAPAN

May, 2014

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Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 1

The Author.......................................................................................................... 1

Ⅰ Introduction ................................................................................................. 2

1.1) Why do we need “Social Dialogue”? ............................................................. 2

The Crux, Key words ...................................................................................... 2

What happens in global labour market? ....................................................... 2

Public Employment Services are in transition .............................................. 3

“Individualization” and “Networking” .............................................................. 4

Self-Defined Success ..................................................................................... 4

Employees in new generation ........................................................................ 5

Good practices of real partnership ................................................................ 6

How should PES react to changing relationships between

employers and employees? ....................................................................... 8

Global trend of “Social Dialogue”................................................................... 9

1.2) Why should PES focus on relationship with employers? .......................... 11

The Crux, Key words .................................................................................... 11

Recognition of PES for employers .............................................................. 11

The simple answer is there .......................................................................... 12

Are direct impact on employers feasible? ................................................... 13

Activities under economic crisis ................................................................... 15

Potential power of PES as “Public” ............................................................. 18

Ⅱ Purpose ..................................................................................................... 19

Ⅲ Method ...................................................................................................... 19

3.1) Participants .................................................................................................... 19

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3.2) Procedure ...................................................................................................... 19

3.3) Contents ......................................................................................................... 20

Ⅳ Result & Analysis ...................................................................................... 21

4.1) Basic information from 2012 ........................................................................ 21

Summary ........................................................................................................ 21

4.1.1 Number of job openings (vacancies) in 2012 ......................................... 22

1) Total number of job openings (vacancies) employers offered

to PES offices in 2012 ............................................................................ 22

2) The percentages of full time job and part time job offers ..................... 24

4.1.2 Number of job finders in 2012 .................................................................. 26

1) Total number of job finders that utilizes the job placement

Services at PES offices in 2012 ............................................................. 26

2) The percentages of full time job and part time job finders .................... 27

4.1.3 Number of job offers filled in 2012 etc. ................................................... 29

1) Number of job offers filled in 2012 .......................................................... 29

2) An expiry date of the job offers ............................................................... 32

3) The basis of an expiry date ..................................................................... 33

3-1) Analysis by options ........................................................................... 33

3-2) Analysis by countries ........................................................................ 33

4) The term of validity ................................................................................... 35



4.2) The overall themes of recent trends ............................................................ 39

Summary ........................................................................................................ 39

4.2.1 Background to why PES is strengthening their relationship

with employers ......................................................................................... 39

1) Comparison with the past ........................................................................ 39

2) Factors that strengthen PES for employers ........................................... 40

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2-1) Results of factors that strengthen PES for employers ................... 41

3) Description about employment circumstances shifting ......................... 46

4.3) Details about communication between PES and employers .................... 48

Summary ........................................................................................................ 48

4.3.1 Service structure. ...................................................................................... 49

1)The way of providing services .................................................................. 49

4.3.2 Relationship between employment services and laws/regulations. ..... 50

1) Laws/regulations that define PES for employers .................................. 50

2) Details of laws/regulations that define PES for employers ................... 50



4.3.3 Personal Support Services (PSS) for recruiting/identifying

suitable candidates. .................................................................................. 55

Short summary .............................................................................................. 55

1) Personal support services for recruiting/identifying suitable

candidates to fulfill vacancies ................................................................ 56

2) The base of the PSS ................................................................................ 57



3) Advice that PES offices five to employers as part of PSS.................... 61



4) One services frequently provided and the most popular

for employers ......................................................................................... 64

5) The timing of providing services ............................................................. 65



6) The method of providing services ........................................................... 70

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7) The reason why PES offices utilize the methods .................................. 74



8) Evaluation of the PSS activities .............................................................. 77

8-1) Analysis by options (Overall trend) .................................................. 78

8-2) Analysis by countries (Overall trend) .............................................. 79

8-3) Analysis by options (Individual statistics) ........................................ 82

8-4) Analysis by countries (Individual statistics) .................................... 88

9) The way PES organization strengthen employment services .............. 91



4.3.4 Good practice with developing a good relationship

between PES offices and employers ...................................................... 96

1) Outline ....................................................................................................... 96

2) Results ....................................................................................................... 96

2-1) Argentina ............................................................................................ 98

2-2) Armenia ............................................................................................ 105

2-3) Austria .............................................................................................. 106

2-4) Bulgaria ............................................................................................ 107

2-5) Germany .......................................................................................... 108

2-6) Japan ................................................................................................ 111

2-7) Moldova ............................................................................................ 118

2-8) Norway ............................................................................................. 119

2-9) United Kingdom ............................................................................... 121

Ⅴ Conclusion .............................................................................................. 123

Global perception in the labour market...................................................... 123

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Ⅵ Reference ................................................................................................ 125

Ⅶ Appendix ................................................................................................. 127

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support and help given by Miguel

Peromingo, and contact persons of WAPES members; Lic. Laura Adriana Nasra

(Argenitina), Tsoghik Bezhanyan (Armenia), Jennifer Forbes (Australia), Claudia

Galehr (Austria), Jana Penkova (Bulgaria), Brigitte Feldmeier-Wilhelm

(Germany), Natalia Pisova (Moldova), Pär Skoglund (Norway), Adélia Costa

(Portugal), Christopher Nunn (UK).

The author also appreciates the continued cooperation of Hideki Kurashige (the

President of SIGMAXYZ Inc.).

The Author Erika Horiba is a vocational guidance officer at the Ministry of Health, Labour

and Welfare, Japan.

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Ⅰ Introduction 1.1) Why do we now need “Social Dialogue”?

What happens in global labour market?

It is true that the primal role of Public Employment Services (PES) should

not have changed, in other words, a role is “labour safety net”. However,

social delivery partnership including PES organizations should be changed.

Now, five years have passed since countries all over the world suffered from

the global financial crisis. Indeed, the global financial crisis has brought

about the current extremely distressing situation, which may be described

as one of the most serious impacts on the global labour market.

The Crux

When considering the fact that the number of unemployed is rising,

social delivery partnership including Public Employment Services

(PES) organizations should be changed. There is the fact that the

majority of employers are seeking the new type of PES with “Social

Network Integration” and “Electronic Job Match Alerts”. Focusing on

this point, employees’ needs are caused by the changing

relationship between employers and employees.

With the situation that both employees and employers are working

under their own decision and responsibilities, some employers and

employees are failing to seek best partners in business.

PES should solve the great mismatching in labour markets as a part

of their social responsibilities. In order to solve the problems, PES

need more Social Dialogue with partners.

Key words

“Social Network Integration” and “Electronic Job Match Alerts”

“Individualization” and “Networking”

Employees in new generation

Partnership between employers and employees

“Social Dialogue”

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According to “GLOBAL EMPOYMENT TRENDS 2013” reported by ILO, 197

million people have no job in 2012, and the number of unemployed is

projected to rise to more than 202 million in 2013 (up 5.1 million), and in

2014 it will rise by another 3 million.

Public Employment Services are in transition

Historically, PES have been trying to provide jobseekers with employment

opportunities suited to their abilities, considering the labor trends.

The length and depth of the labour market crisis makes mismatching

between employers and employees worse. The more serious the

employment problem becomes, the harder PES strive to solve the problem

by themselves while providing the same services as ever. In other words,

PES have gotten to the point where they cannot solve the problem in the

way they have taken in the past.

“2013 Outplacement Survey Report” released by Direct Employers

Association and Career Beam, concludes following suggestion.

"A strong desire to provide employees with access to comprehensive

outplacement services has created a demand for a new type of solution

that encompasses both online and social technology."

The highlight of this suggestion is based on the fact that 58% of

respondents, the majority of employers, are frustrated with the

outplacement services offered by their provider which are often viewed as

outdated.

They no longer any need traditional outplacement services such as office

and onsite coaching. Instead, employers today want a virtual career center

which provides “Social Network Integration” and “Electronic Job Match

Alerts”.

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One of the interpretations of this result is if current PES organizations

provided these kinds of services to their hearts content, employers would

not think that they need a virtual career center. Basically, employers seek

“Social Network Integration” and “Electronic Job Match Alerts”.

Therefore these key concepts will play crucial roles to renovate current PES.

“Individualization” and “Networking”

In the coming decade, it is definitely said that we cannot overlook two key

phrases. “Individualization” and “Networking” based on internet

technology. We can find not only employers but also employees seeking

“Individualization” and “Networking” in their career.

Lynda Gratton, the author of ”The shift; the future of work has already

here” mentions that one of the great paradoxes of the future of work will

be that we demand someone who is simultaneously a unique specialist

and master, capable of standing out from the crowd, while at the same time

being intimately connected to the crowd.

According to her description, the relationship between employers and

employees has been changing from a parent-child relationship to as

adult-adult one. It indicates most employees had worked implicitly on the

basis of employers’ decision; where and when they should work, which

skills they should obtain and so on.

In contrast, in the near future or even now, capable employees tend to

decide working style by themselves, not employers. They are willing to

decide where and when to work, which partners should be beneficial for

their business, which skills they should develop.

“Self-Defined Success”

Daniel H. Pink, the author of “Free Agent Nation”, the provocative and

acclaimed Washington Post bestseller focuses on the “Self-Defined

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Success”. He insists that the image of success that employees hold has

been changing.

In past days, employees or traditional workplace goals were very clear;

getting promoted and growing an enterprise larger. It is like going up (or

down) an elevator.

By contrast, now employees including free agents are redefining our notion

of what constitutes “success”. It means that careers or future ways in their

lives for many employees are more emotionally fraught and vaguer than

past times, so that they consider work as a source of meaning of their lives

and bases of their identities. It resembles mountain climbing; full of great

heights and danger, a self-directed quest rather than a passive ride like an

elevator.

Employees in new generation

These changes of working style are necessary to allow both employers

and employees to survive under current labour market shifting. In her

book ”The shift; the future of work has already here”, Lynda Gratton also

stated that in order to flourish their business activities in the future, many

employers value diversity among employees. That is to say, they don’t

dare to seek the classic type of employees who have shallow knowledge

and skills, the so-called “jack-of-all-trades”.

Instead, employers seek individual players who are highly focused and

specialized in a specific area and eventually achieve expertise of their field.

On the other hand, employees are more likely to develop skills and

knowledge in depth in valuable areas where they have decided to work by

their own will so as to enhance their employability.

Under these situations, the more each employee obtains mastery (high

expertise), the more they stand out among other employees, because they

can promote their own unique abilities as one person. At the same time, it

seems that to be individual and to be isolated are two sides of the same

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coin. The more we become isolated, the more we desire social networking.

It also applies to labour market situation.

Today, assertive employees, in particular among the younger generation,

value networking through internet services. They seek partners from the

crowd who will rate their value and discuss the matter in their special fields.

One of the partners may be their employer in future. On this point,

employers and employees can build an adult-adult relationship, which

characterizes the current labour market trend.

Good practices of real partnership

SIGMAXYZ Inc. is the very firm that practices real partnership between

employers and employees in Japan. It is a 250+ employee professional

services firm that assists their clients to create value and sustainable

competitive advantage, such as M&A service, consulting service and so on.

Hideki Kurashige who is the President insists that there are three factors

that attract employees as the best business partners as follows.

The first factor ;

Whether employers boost employees’ efficacy or not

Each employee of SIGMAXYZ Inc. set career goals by themselves under a

well-organized ability evaluation system, called “Capability Development

Framework (CDF)”. This system focuses on the matter if employees can

enhance their personal abilities based on the plan which is called

“Individual Professional Development Plan (IPDP)”.

Thanks to the CDF and IPDP, the employees can clearly understand which

levels they are standing on now and which abilities they should acquire to

have more mastery in their career. Unlike trite management systems

focused on the firm’s aim such as profits and sales results, CDF and IPDP

encourages employees to set challenging goals without fear of failure.

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The second factor ;

Whether or not the employer can provide self-learning

opportunities for employees

CDF and IPDP enable each employee to be naturally motivated in their

work in order to develop their abilities because CDF and IPDP involve

several employees to estimate one employee appropriately.

Regardless of structural positions, surrounding employees such as project

leaders and experts should check one employee’s abilities. If the employee

himself or herself notices a lack in abilities, he or she can consult with

other employees like mentors.

The third factor ;

Whether or not the employer can provide the space where each

employee obtains useful information and good co-workers.

The executives of SIGMAXYZ Inc. regard the firm as a place where

employees enjoy having communication because they realize that

employees really seek networking in their business life.

With these three factors, the employees should naturally feel happy from

bottom of their hearts because they can acquire advantages in their

business through the relationship with the employer and other business

partners.

Hideki Kurashige mentions as follows;

"I really enjoy happiness circulation via human minds.

When employers provide good working circumstance for employees,

they are able to achieve good results which bring about big profits for

the firm as well as employees.

If the firm is successful in the business, the stock holders also feel

happy for they can acquire a lot of dividends.

This successful experience of stock holders motivates them to invest in

the firm with much more money, which also makes the representative of

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the firm happy to get more chances to widen the scale of their

business."

Basically, the circulation of happiness among many human which we call

“partnerships” make them all happy.

How PES should react to changing relationships between

employers and employees

Then, how should PES react to the shifting trends in the labour market? As

a matter of fact, it is not always the cases that these shifting trends such as

“Individualization” and “Networking” on workplace lead to success for both

employers and employees.

If employees have difficulty in their job seeking because they lack their

career experiences or skills, does the “Individualization” work for them? If

employers are too demanding for future employees, does the “Networking”

help them seek good partners in the labour market?

It is open to question. Some employers and employees might go through

much harder times than before. Others might feel mere serious isolation in

the labor market as if they are adrift on the open sea.

Here is advice for employers to describe this mismatching situation.

“Stop Looking for the Best Employees.”

Dan Henry, chief HR officer of Bright Horizons is the very man who

advocates this comment. He criticizes the fact organizations and their HR

people spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to attract “the best”

employees. According to him, such perfect people don’t exist. Instead, he

insists that employers should notice there are only good people who have

the potential to become great employees.

PES organization reports how sometimes supported this theory. What the

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matter is how PES organizations should take public responsibility to solve

this mismatching.

Needless to say, PES organizations should recognize what employers and

employees demand from each other. Between them, how can PES

organizations understand their needs and persuade them under such a

highly demanding society?

Unfortunately, PES organizations cannot completely achieve it by

themselves for the time being. If PES organizations don’t change their

position in their society, there is no hope to satisfying employers and

employees.

The time has come when PES organizations require “Social Dialogue”

more and more at many levels between global and local; between

employers and employees; among public, private and non-profit; between

individual and group, etc.

Global trend of “Social Dialogue”

When we look at global activities about employment issues, some

international organizations emphasize “Social Dialogue”.

G20 / L20 / B20

G20 members established the G20 Task Force on Employment (ETF)

in 2011, which focused on exchanging mutual experiences, best

practices and responses to the employment market. L20 and B20 have

also tried to unite though mutual communications while understanding

each position.

The International Labour Organization (ILO)

ILO (2013) published “GLOBAL EMPOYMENT TRENDS 2013” which

described global outlook for labour markets. According to the report, a

renewed focus on the world of work is necessary at this critical moment

for the global economy, which has positive effects on the action of

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employees, the promotion of investment, and productivity growth. In

order to improve the stagnant labour market situation, it is clear that

each policy-maker should cooperate more than what they were.

At international labour conference, 102nd Session, Geneva, June 2013,

members of “Committee for the Recurrent Discussion on Social

Dialogue” discussed the role of “Social Dialogue”. Some members

mentioned how Social Dialogue is important to develop social protection

systems. Others also stated Social Dialogue play a key role in active

labour market policies which foster equity and promote social inclusion.

The European Commission

The European Commission has already established “Partnership

between Employment Services (PARES)" in 2011, which will

encourage EU-level Dialogue to improve cooperation between the

different employment services.

The first purpose is to constitute publicly-funded employment services

to be more efficient; it does not matter whether they are delivered by

public or private employment agencies. The second is that through well-

structured partnership between private and public provider, to improve

the quality of services.

The European Commission has also launched “PES to PES Dialogue”

to help public employment services to anticipate new trends and needs

which require adjustment of their service offer and business models.

Surely this will help to the modernization of employment services

delivery and the contribution of PES to national active labour market

policies.

The public needs for PES have been increasing in times of economic

slowdown. Therefore, PES should step up by mutual learning to

improve the efficiency and effectiveness of active labour market policies.

As shown above, those international organizations are facing the same

serious problems, and they try to tackle the problems through Social

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Dialogue.

Without Social Dialogue, PES also have little hope of breaking the negative

employment situations. Social Dialogue is a very key concept for PES to

develop themselves in the current society. In addition, Social Dialogue

enables PES to be more adaptive and influential on all parts of society.

The time has come when PES organizations should be ready to move to

the next phase with social partners, in particular, with employers.

1.2) Why should PES focus on relationship with employers?

Recognition of PES for employers

It is true that supporting jobseekers and employers has always been the

The Crux

There is no job placement without employers as well as jobseekers.

While PES in several countries was successful in effective services

for jobseekers, PES also recognized that accomplishing the best

services for employers is much more difficult than that for

jobseekers. Therefore, in order to fulfill the social responsibilities,

PES should more focus on their relationship with employers.

The process, in which PES organizations have direct impacts on

employers or improving labour markets, can be seen by trial and

error. Sharing highlighting successful activities of PES in certain

countries should help PES in other countries to find their own way

and establish best services for employers.

Key words

Social responsibilities of PES

Great impact on labour market

Getting results despite economic crisis

Potential powers of PES

Cooperative action

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core of PES. The WAPES (World Association of Public Employment

Services) etc. often conclude how important it is that PES should focus on

employers.

According to the annual report 2010 (WAPES, Association Mondiale des

Services d’Emplos Publics, and Asociation Mundial de los Servicios

Publicos de Empleo), the WAPES etc. 2009 emphasized the need for a

platform of international formation exchange among labour market actors,

especially employment services.

In the report of “Public Employment Service in the World –Mission, Structure

and Activities; A survey conducted by the World association for Public

Employment Services with Infas” (Jean Pierre ALIX, December 2011), the

WAPES survey 2011 concluded that PES worldwide should make its first

priority providing services for both jobseekers and employers.

The simple answer is there

Why then should PES focus on relationship with employers now?

The answer is simple: without employers, PES cannot introduce job offers

to jobseekers.

Indeed, PES in several countries have already established services good

enough for jobseekers to get jobs by providing vocational training, individual

counseling and so on. Yet, no matter how enthusiastically PES provide

these services for jobseekers, without job offers, they cannot finally get jobs

in the end.

Why then should PES now emphasize the relationship with employers? The

reason is because accomplishing best services for employers is much more

difficult than that for jobseekers. It needs a large amount of time and effort,

as PES in several countries know, therefore, we should not shy away from

the challenge now.

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Are direct impacts on employers feasible?

There is argument whether or not PES can have direct influence on

employers. PES in several countries recognize how valuable it is to

establish the effective services for employers.

Can PES have great effects on employers?

Can PES improve the labour market?

If PES organizations are asked such questions, it is not always the case

that their answer without little hesitation. It does not mean that PES have

yet to try to solve the mismatching between employers and employees.

Instead, PES have always been trying to find the most efficient services for

employers within their practices by trial and error.

In other words, there is no royal road that PES are able to have a direct

impact on many employers, since PES organizations recognize that they

cannot perfectly control the labour market or the economic activities of

employers. PES in some countries point out how difficult it is to deal with

employers through the labour market.

Labour market analysis of Austria

Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection

(bmask) of Austria states the major restrictions on the labour market

including the following:

The mobility of employees is frequently affected by social and also

political conflicts, particularly in the host countries.

There is no complete transparency with regard to working conditions

and to the professional and social skills of those seeking employment.

More so than other markets, the labour market is characterised by

unequal access to information about events on the market and the

unequal power of the participants.

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This is only one part of suggestions that bmask gives, however, we can

still easily imagine how difficult it must be to remove these restrictions

regarding employers or the labour market.

It is also mentioned how we need employment law, active labour market

policies and gender main-streaming.

Labour market analysis of Australia

The significance of labour market policy

For these reasons, and to a greater degree than other areas of the

economy and society, the labour market cannot function without

intervention on the part of the state.

This occurs in the following ways:

Through employment law and

labour market policy: this refers to all of the public measures

which are designed to balance the supply and demand for workers

to as great an extent as possible and in an economically

meaningful and sustainable way. These measures include:

statutory unemployment insurance; financial support for market

participants to increase their occupational and regional mobility;

the creation of the greatest possible level of transparency on the

labour market by means of free information (finding jobs for the

unemployed).

The equality of women and men

In labour market policy - in addition to specific measures to support

women - the equality of women and men is taken into consideration as

an across-the-board objective in all areas of politics and in all activities

via the strategy of Gender Mainstreaming.

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As for Australia, Labour Market Strategy Group’s Employer Survey

concluded that employers’ satisfaction with employment services have

increased from 60% in 2001 to 72% in 2013, which may indicates that

the relationship between PES organizations and employers has

improved.

However, they also suggested that while the main factor contributing

toward the improved relationship between PES organizations and

employers may be motive, other external factors should be considered.

These include the global financial crisis, skills shortages as a results of

the mining boom, structural changes in the labour market, population/

immigration increases and the way labour is sourced through an

increase focused on job advertising

In conclusion, to a greater or lesser extent, PES in various countries may

have the same experiences with understanding in regard to matter

between PES and employers in the labour market. Sometimes PES have a

sense of victory in their strategies while sometimes a sense of defeat.

In general, though PES a fraught with uncertainty a doubt about direct

impacts on employers, not give up connections with employers by any

means because this is the very responsibility of PES.

Activities under economic crisis

When it comes to unfavorable employment situations, such as the rapid

decreasing the number of job offers right after global economic crisis, PES

in some countries have succeeded in practice with employers.

PES activities of Japan

Amid the deepening world financial crisis and the worst global recession

in the postwar period, the Japanese economy was facing a severe

situation in 2009. Although there was a move of improvement in part, it

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was experiencing an abrupt slump, with the export market rapidly

shrinking and the financial environment deteriorating.

The real GDP growth rate in the Q1 2009 period declined 3.8% from the

previous period (declined 14.2% annually), posting an even greater fall

as a result of negative growth for five consecutive quarters.

The employment/unemployment situation deteriorated, as shown by:

the total unemployment ratio which is 2009 over 5%;

active job openings ratio had fallen from the most recent peak level

of 1.06 in June 2007 to 0.44 in May 2009;

total unemployment ratio is continuously rising and it was 5.2% in

May 2009, with a total of 3.47 million people unemployed;

the number of jobless workers who visited PES offices after leaving

their jobs due to reasons attributable to their business owners (new

jobseekers) in 2009 May increased 88.8% from the same month last

year;

the number of people received employment insurance benefits in

May increased 70.3% to reach 940,000, showing a sharp rise (The

number of people who became qualified increased 38.8% from the

same month last year.);

jobseekers visiting PES offices, mainly middle-aged or older jobless

workers who had to leave their job due to reasons attributable to their

employers, had increased considerably since September 2008.

In addition, since production activities were still very sluggish despite

the improvement, the fear of large-scale employment adjustment

remains. According to reports published by Prefectural Labour Bureaus,

223,000 non-regular workers were (or will be) denied the renewal of

employment contract, etc. with 3,716 business establishments between

October 2008 and September 2009.

In order to improve the rapid increasing the number of jobseekers after

global economic crisis, all 545 PES offices located nationwide of Japan

strived to develop new job offers as much as possible by any means.

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Practically, PES offices staff often kept in contact with employers by

visiting their offices, making a call or sending mails to ask if each

employer had a plan to employ someone recently. When PES office

staff visited employer offices, they promoted appropriate candidates for

employers. Also, they explained employment “Employment

adjustment subsidies”1 which were very efficient for employers to

avoid massive lay off caused by decreasing business or going bankrupt.

These subsidies meet the need of employers those who hoped to keep

employees the company although they could not afford to employ them

due to financial difficulty.

Thanks to keeping in touch with employers through these activities,

PES offices could get job offers. As a result, PES offices could

develop 1.8 million additional job offers in 2009 FY. The number is

about 30% of all job offers (5.6 million offers in a year). Due to the

efforts, 1.8 million jobseekers could get job, which is about 5% up

year on year.

Local Employment Partnership of the United Kingdom

“Employment engagement and Jobcenter Plus” (Anne Bellis, Maria

Sigala and Sara Dewson) states that the economic slowdown caused a

change in the profile of the Jobcenter Plus customer group in the United

Kingdom.

More highly-qualified jobseekers those who had been recently made

redundant increased in number. It gave advantages that employers

were able to recruit from a lot of variety of jobseekers and select those

with higher-level skills. While jobseekers who had been unemployed for

long term with complex barriers became more difficult to get jobs.

1 Employment adjustment subsidy is an extensive program to counteract the employment

crisis. Employers that seek to preserve employment through measures such as temporary

closures, vocational training and the transfer of employees to other companies are eligible

for subsidies to cover part of wages and other related to the workers concerned.

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Despite these difficult situations for jobseekers with disadvantages,

owing to the Local Employment Partnership (LEP), some employers,

especially SMEs was motivated to recruit Jobcentre Plus customers

who need more training and support from employers as shown

described.

Potential power of PES as “Public”

PES potentially have great powers to unite employers to jobseekers

organically, dealing with job offers.

Who is the owner of job offers?

One of the possible answers is everyone, the public itself. Job offers do

belong not only to employers but also to PES and jobseekers. In other

words, those who need job information can obtain it wherever and

whenever they may need because job information dealing in PES is

regarded as a public wealth.

However, PES should not miss the fact that PES have the special chance to

make job offers more and more attractive through communications with

employers.

On this research, we found how PES in several countries strive to improve

the services for employers. We also found how PES organization or each

staff exploits the potential power of PES.

One large private company had recruited a number of lone parents for

part-time jobs and had targeted this group through Sure Start centers.

A large public-sector organisation had particularly targeted the long-term

unemployemnt and people on incapacity benefits for Pre Employment

Trainning (PET) and had successfully recruited many of the participants.

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Sharing successful activities of PES in some countries should be the clue

that PES in other countries can find their own way to establish best services

for employers.

Ⅱ Purpose

The purpose of this survey is to clarify how PES in several countries can be

used to provide services for employers.

Ⅲ Method

3.1) Participants

10 PES (PES in 10 countries) of WAPES members cooperated with this

survey. The countries are Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany,

Japan, Moldova, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Australia cooperated with original reports instead of answering the survey,

because Australia does not manage PES (PES are outsourced to separate

providers).

Selection Criteria

Chosen countries were those highlighted in the survey (Public Employment

Services in the World – Mission, Structure and Activities, reported by

AMSEP, WAPES, AMSPE, coordination: Jean Pierre ALIX, December 2011).

Of the 44 listed, 10 countries agreed to participate in the current survey.

3.2) Procedure

The survey was conducted between July 31 and October 30, 2013, with

respondents answering the questionnaire, “PES Organizations Activity

20

Questionnaire for Employers”.

3.3) Contents

The survey was composed the following three parts.

Part 1 : Basic information from 2012

1. Number of job openings (vacancies) in 2012

2. Number of job finders in 2012

3. Number of filled job offers in 2012 etc.

Part 2 : The overall themes of recent trends

1. Background to why PES is strengthening their relationship with

Employers

Part 3 : Details about communication between PES offices and

employers

1. Service structure

2. Relationship between employment services and laws/regulations

3. Personal Support Services for recruiting/identifying suitable

candidates to fill vacancies

4. Good practices with developing a good relationship between PES

offices and employers

21

Ⅳ Result & Analysis 4.1) Basic information from 2012

Summary

The majority of the PES counted the total number of job openings

(vacancies) and job finders while some PES only count the total number

of job offers filled.

The majority of the PES reported the job offers have an expiry date.

With specifically, the expiration dates/terms of validity were based on

“laws/regulations”, “individual employer’s decision”, “PES rules” and so

on.

1 Number of job openings (vacancies) in 2012

8 of 10 PES counted the total number of job openings (vacancies)

employers offered to PES offices. The number of job openings

(vacancies) varied widely across the sample. Of them, 4 PES

counted the percentages of full time job and part time job offers. All 4

PES reported that they dealt more with full time job offers than part

time.

2 Number of job finders in 2012

9 of 10 counted the total number of job finders. 3 PES counted the

percentages of full time job and part time job finders and dealt more

with full time job offers than part time.

3 Number of job offers filled in 2012 etc.

Number of job offers filled in 2012

4 of 10 PES counted the total number of job offers filled. The total

number of job offers filled varied widely across the sample. The

data showed against variation among sample countries compared

to other measures.

22

4.1.1 Number of job openings (vacancies2)in 2012

1) Total number of job openings (vacancies) employers offered to

PES offices in 2012

The majority of the PES (8 of 10) counted the total number of job

openings (vacancies) employers offered to PES offices (Figure 1).

The countries were Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova, Norway and Portugal (Figure 2).

Of 8 PES, the number of job openings (vacancies) varied widely

across the sample. In particular, PES in Japan dealt with a much

larger number of job openings (vacancies). However, without

considering labour conditions (labour population, the number of

industries etc.) and PES organizations in each countries, it is difficult

to assess whether the number of each country is actually different or

2 Job openings (vacancies): Number of persons that employers intended to hire as

employees. When a single employer has submitted several job opportunities in one

offer (one time), PES count the total number of job opportunities rather than just one.

An expiry date of the job offers

8 of 10 PES reported that the job offers have an expiry date while 3

of 10 PES reported the opposite (The figures shown do not add up

to 10 (PES) because Austria is categorized in both options).

The basis of an expiry date

6 PES answered by multiple choice what the expiration date / term

of validity were based on. 1 PES chose “Laws/regulations”, 3 PES

chose “PES rules”, 6 PES chose “individual employer’s decision” and

2 PES chose “Other”.

The term of validity

7 PES answered by multiple choice about the term of validity. 3 PES

chose “Within 30 (31) days”, 2 PES chose “Within 1 to 3 month(s)”

and 4 PES chose “Other”.

23

not.

On the other hand, 2 PES in Argentina and the United Kingdom didn’t

count the number (Figure 1).

This result shows when discussing basic information about job offers,

the majority of the PES regard “number of job openings (vacancies)”

as an important index. However we also found PES in some

countries did not count it. Therefore it is worthwhile researching the

reason why they did not count it; whether it is just because of

technical reasons or counting policies or some other reasons.

Figure 1: Total number of job openings (vacancies)* employers

offered to PES offices in 2012

Response: PES in all 10 countries answered the question about whether or not

to count the total number of job openings (vacancies) employers offered to PES

offices in 2012.

n=10 (PES)

24

Figure 2: Total number of job openings (vacancies)

employers offered to PES offices in 2012

9,541

35,037

94,059

205,525

449,267

477,528

664,000

0 200,000 400,000 600,000 800,000 1,000,000

02 Armenia

25 Moldova

32 Portugal

08 Bulgaria

04 Austria

14 Germany

30 Norway

17 Japan

Response: PES in 8 countries stated the total number of job openings (vacancies).

2) The percentages of full time job and part time job offers

4 of 10 PES counted the percentages of full time job and part time job

offers (Figure 3). The countries were Austria, Germany, Japan, and

Portugal (Figure 4). All 4 PES reported that they dealt more with full

time job offers than part time.

6 of 10 PES did not know the percentage (Figure 3). The countries

were Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Norway and the United

Kingdom (Figure 4). Although PES in Argentina did not know the

precise percentage, according to the answer, job offers were mainly

full time.

In view of "Decent Work"3 which is one of the greatest controversies

in the labour market, these data showed that PES in some countries

regarded the percentage of full time job and part time job offers as an

important index.

3 Decent work is the availability of employment in conditions of freedom, equity, human

security and dignity.

7,952,732

8,000,000

n=８

(persons)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_security

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_security

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity

25

Figure 3: The percentages of full time job and part time

job offers


to count the percentages of full time job and part time job offers in 2012.


job offers

Response: PES in 4 countries stated the percentages of full time job and part

time job offers.

n=10

n=4

(PES)

26

4.1.2 Number of job finders4 in 2012

1) Total number of job finders that utilized the job placement

service at PES offices in 2012

The majority of the PES (9 of 10) counted the total number of job

finders (Figure 5). The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria,

Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova, Norway and Portugal (Figure 6).

The number of job openings (vacancies) varied widely across the

sample. As with the total number of job openings (vacancies) above

in 4.1.1 1)', a cross country comparison is difficult.

Only PES in the United Kingdom did not count the number, however,

PES introduced a new system called “Universal Jobmatch” 5 in

November 2012. This system allows registered users to upload their

CV’s which are automatically matched to vacancies.

Figure 5: Total number of job finders* that utilized the job

placement service at PES offices in 2012


to count the total number of job finders in 2012.

4 Job finders: those who were successful in obtaining employment

5 https://www.gov.uk/jobsearch

n=10 (PES)

27

Figure 6: Total number of job finders* that utilized the job

placement service at PES offices in 2012

Response: PES in 9 countries stated the total number of job finders.

2) The percentages of full time job and part time job finders

3 of 10 PES counted the percentages of full time job and part time job

finders (Figure 7). The countries were Austria, Japan and Portugal

(Figure 8). All 3 PES reported that they dealt more full time job offers

than part time.

7 of 10 PES did not know the percentage (Figure 7). The countries

were Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova, Norway and

the United Kingdom. Although PES in Argentina did not know the

precise percentage, according to the answer, job finders were mainly

full time.

In view of "Decent work", this index also cannot be ignored as well as

the percentages of full time job and part time job offers.

2,000,000

1,935,818

n=9

(persons)

28

Figure 7: The percentages of full time job and part time job

finders


to count the percentages of full time job and part time job finders in 2012.


job finders

Response: PES in 3 countries stated the percentages of full time job and part

time job finders

n=3

n=10 (PES)

29

4.1.3 Number of job offers filled in 2012 etc.

1) Number of job offers filled in 2012

4 of 10 PES counted the total number of job offers filled (Figure 9).

The countries are Austria, Germany, Japan and Moldova (Figure 10).

The total number of job offers filled varied widely across the sample.

As of the same reason above in 4.1.1 1)' and 4.1.2 2)', a cross

country comparison is difficult.

6 of 10 PES didn’t know the number (Figure 9). The countries were

Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Norway, Portugal and the United

Kingdom.

Since, in this part, the question was not focused on how PES in each

country count the number of job offers filled, it is worthwhile to

research further.

For instance, PES in Austria count the number of job offers filled

(373,337 in Figure 10) through job placements either by PES offices

(AMS) or by other channels such as private jobplacement services.

Austria also reported the number of job offers unfilled in 2012 was

75,930. The main reasons for unfilled were by withdrawal, changing

or canceling by employers.

As for PES in Japan, PES offices count the number only by job

placements of PES offices. Without job placements by PES offices -

the cases where jobseekers who do not enrolled PES office get the

job with the offers that was opened through PES offices – PES in

Japan do not count it as the number of job offers filled.

In addition, taking into consideration the result of 4.1.2.1)’ above, the

total number of job finders, this data shows how different the number

counting system is among PES in these countries.

For instance, PES in Japan treats the number of job offers filled

as equal to that of job finders (Figure 11), because the employers’

situation that one job offer (vacancy) is filled should indicate that

one jobseeker got a job with the company.

30

By contrast, PES in Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Norway and

Portugal reported that they didn’t know the number of job offers

filled and only counted the number of job finders (Figure 6 / 9).

In addition, PES in Austria and Moldova showed the number of

job offers filled was larger than that of job finders, on the other

hand, PES in Germany reported the opposite.

Considering the results, in essence, the more popular way to count

the number of job offers filled was not as simple as that of PES in

Japan. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to conduct further research

into what motivates these different counting strategies.

Figure 9: Total number of job offers filled in 2012


to count the total number of job offers filled in 2012 or not.

n=10 (PES)

31

Figure 10 : Total number of job offers filled in 2012

Response: PES in 4 countries stated the total number of job offers filled.

Figure 11: Total number of job offers filled and

job finders in 2012

2,000,000

17Japan

25Moldova

14Germany

04 Austria

2,000,000

Number of

job finders

Number of job

offers filled

n=4

n=4

(offers)

(persons)

(offers)

32

2) An expiry date of the job offers

The majority of the PES (8 of 10) reported that the job offers have an

expiry date 6 (Figure 12). The countries were Argentina, Armenia,

Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

3 of 10 PES reported that the job offers don’t have an expiry date. The

countries are Austria, Germany and Moldova.

PES in Austria reported that while job offers occasionally have an

expiry date, in general they don't. That is why PES in Austria checked

both options.

Figure 12: Any expiry date of job offers

Response: PES in all 10 countries answered the question whether the job

offers have an expiry date or not.

*The figures shown do not add up to 10 (PES) because Austria is categorized in

both options.

3) The basis of an expiry date

8 PES, which were categorized “Yes, they do” box in the Figure 12,

answered by multiple choice what the expiration dates/terms of validity

6 An expiry date : The date when the offer becomes invalid

n=10

(PES)

33

were based on. The options were as follows.

Laws/regulations

PES rules

Individual employer's decision

Other

3-1) Analysis by options

The result about each option was shown below (Figure 13/Table 1).

Laws/regulations

1 PES in Norway chose “Laws/regulations”.

PES rules

3 PES chose “PES rules”. The countries were Japan, Norway and

Portugal.

Individual employer's decision

6 PES chose “Individual employer’s decision”. The countries were

Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Japan, Norway and Portugal. This option

was the most chosen of all 4 items. This indicates that “Individual

employer’s decision” was the most common among 10 PES when

deciding the expiration dates / terms.

Other

2 PES chose “Other”. The countries were Bulgaria and the United

Kingdom. In particular, PES in the United Kingdom reported that most

employers consider two to three weeks is sufficient time to enable

applicants to apply.

3-2) Analysis by countries

While 5 PES chose a single option, 3 PES chose two to three options

(Table 1).

PES that chose single option

PES in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom

chose only one basis that decides the expiration dates/terms of validity.

The details were as follows.

34

Argentina, Armenia and Austria

PES in Argentina, Armenia and Austria chose only “Individual

employer’s decision”.

Bulgaria and the United Kingdom

PES in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom Chose only "Other".

PES that chose several options

PES in Japan, Norway and Portugal chose several options. The result

shows that PES in these countries considered various factors when

deciding the expiration date/terms of validity.

Japan and Portugal

PES in Japan and Portugal chose “PES rules” and “individual

employer’s decision”.

Norway

PES in Norway chose “Laws/regulations”, “PES rules” and

“individual employer’s decision”.

It appears that PES of Japan, Norway and Portugal are actively

managing the labour market though job offers. In particular,

considering the result that PES in Norway decides the expiration

dates/terms of validity by “Law/regulation”, PES in Norway as well as

employers must take great responsibilities for job vacancies to fill.

35

Figure 13: Base of the expiration dates/terms of validity

Response: PES in 8 countries stated base of the expiration dates / terms of

validity.

Table 1: Base of the expiration dates/terms

01 Argentina ○

02 Armenia ○

04 Austria ○

08 Bulgaria ○

17 Japan ○ ○

30 Norway ○ ○ ○

32 Portugal ○ ○

43 United Kingdom ○

3) What were the expiration dates/terms of validity

based on?

Laws/regulati

ons

PES rule Individual

employer's

decision

Other

4) The term of validity

7 PES except PES in Norway7, which were categorized as “Yes, they

do” in the figure 6, answered by multiple choice how long the expiration

7 PES in Norway did not answer the question (the term of validity).

n=8

(PES)

36

date / term of validity was. The options were as following options.

Within 30 (31) days

Within 1 to 3 month(s)

Within 3 to 6 months

More than 6 months

Other


Looking at the result in each option, even though PES or employers

set the expiration date or term, they are very flexible and not so long

term. Job offers' validity is efficient for both PES and employers to fill

the offers in a timely manner. The result about each option was as

shown below (Figure 14/Table 2).

Within 30 (31) days

3 PES chose “Within 30 (31) days”. The countries were Bulgaria,

Portugal and the United Kingdom.


2 PES chose “Within 1 to 3 month(s)”. The countries were Armenia and

Japan .


None of PES chose "Within 3 to months".

More than 6 months

None of PES chose "More than 6 months".

Other

4 PES chose “Other”. The countries were Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria

and Japan.

PES in Argentina answered the day/term of validity depends on

Individual employer's decision.

PES in Japan reported they make it a rule that the term of

validity is 3 months. Simultaneously, when employers wish to

decide the term of validity as less than 3 months regardless of

37

whether the offer is filled or not, they can set the term by

themselves in advance.

PES in Austria and Bulgaria did not report any description about

the "Other".


5 PES chose a single option while 2 PES chose two options (Table 2).

This result shows PES in some countries decided the term of validity

by either date/term or employers’ decisions while PES in others mixed

both strategies.

PES that chose single option

PES in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Portugal and the United Kingdom

chose only a single option. The details were as follows.

Argentina and Austria

PES in Argentina and Austria chose only “Other”. The details are

above in 4-1)’.

Armenia

PES in Armenia chose only “Within 1 to 3 month (s)”.

Portugal and the United Kingdom

PES in Portugal and the United Kingdom chose only “Within 30 (31)

days”.

PES that chose several options

PES in Bulgaria and Japan chose two options. The details were as

follows.

Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose “Within 30 (31) days” and “Other”.

Japan

PES in Japan chose “Within 1 to 3 month(s)” and “Other”.

38

Figure 14: The term of validity

4

0

0

2

3

0 2 4 6 8 10

Other

More than 6 months



Within 30(31)days

Response: PES in 7 countries stated the expiration date/term of validity.

Table 2: The term of validity

Within

30(31)day

s

Within 1

to 3

month(s)

Within 3

to 6

months

More than

6 months

Other

01 Argentina ○

02 Armenia ○04 Austria ○08 Bulgaria ○ ○17 Japan ○ ○30 Norway －－－－－32 Portugal ○43 United Kingdom ○

4) How long was the term of validity?

n=７

(PES)

39

4.2) The overall themes of recent trends

4.2.1 Background to why PES is strengthening their

relationship with employers

1) Comparison with the past

All 10 PES answered “Yes” for the question if PES organizations have

Summary

All PES stated that services for employers have been strengthened

compared with the past. Factors that strengthen PES for employers

spread widely. In particular, “Changing the relationship between

employers and employees”, or “Changing employee’s working pattern”

encourage PES to improve services for employers as well as

employees (jobseekers).

1 Comparison with the past

All 10 PES stated that PES organizations have strengthened their

services for employers compared to the past (over the last 10

years).

2 Factors that strengthen PES for employers

Almost all PES reported some factors that have caused PES

organizations to want to strengthen their services. Of them, 5 PES

chose the factors about changing the relationship between

employers and employees or changing employees’ working

patterns.

3 Description about employment circumstances shifting

5 PES described the changing employment circumstances around

employers and employees.

Most of them pointed out that the employers’ demands for employees

have been increasing. Also, normally, non-regular employees have

been increasing in number, yet they demand good employment

conditions. In addition, both employers and employees require more

efficient services in job placements.

40

strengthened their services for employers compared to the past (over

the last 10 years). (Figure 15)

Figure 15: The strengthening of PES for employers

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated whether PES organizations have

strengthened their services for employers compared to the past or not.

2) Factors that strengthen PES for employers

All 10 PES answered the question about what has caused PES

organizations to want to strengthen their services by multiple choice.

The options were follows.

Situation of job offers

The number of job offers has been decreasing

The number of unfilled offers has been increasing

Circumstances around employers and employees

The need of employment services from employers has been

increasing

Working conditions provided by employers have been

deteriorating

The relationship between employers and employees has been

changing

Employees’ working patterns have been changing

n=10 (PES)

41

Social situation

New industries/businesses have been increasing

New laws/regulations have been enacted

New policies/agreements between employers and other

organizations have been made

Other

Other

2-1) Result of factors that strengthen PES for employers

The result about each option was as shown below (Figure 16/ Table 3).

Situation of job offers

5 PES in Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Norway and Portugal chose

“The number of job offers has been decreasing” or (and) “The number

of unfilled offers has been increasing”.


3 PES chose “The number of job offers has been decreasing”. The

countries were Germany, Norway and Portugal.

The number of unfilled offers has been increasing

4 PES chose “The number of unfilled offers has been increasing”.

The countries were Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany and Norway.

Considering the world economic crisis, they may have suffered a hard

time in their labor market for the last 10 years. In particular, Germany

and Norway chose both two options.

Circumstances around employers and employees

7 of 10 PES chose the following options that described the changing

circumstances around employers and employees. The countries were

Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway.

The need of employment services from employers has

been increasing

42

4 PES chose “The need of employment services from employers

has been increasing”. The countries were Armenia, Austria,

Germany and Japan.

Working conditions provided by employers have been

deteriorating

1 PES in Austria chose “Working conditions provided by employers

have been deteriorating”. Among 10 PES, only Austria chose this

factor.

The relationship between employers and employees has

been changing

4 PES chose “The relationship between employers and employees

has been changing”. The countries were Germany, Japan, Moldova

and Norway.

Employees’ working patterns have been changing

4 PES chose “Employees’ working patterns have been changing”.

The countries were Austria, Bulgaria, Japan and Norway.

Social situation

7 of 10 PES chose the options describing the changing social situation.

The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany,

Japan and Norway.


4 PES chose “New industries/businesses have been increasing”.

The countries were Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Norway.


3 PES chose “New laws/regulations have been enacted”. The

countries were Argentina, Armenia and Japan.

New policies/agreements between employers and other

organizations have been made

3 PES chose “New policies/agreements between employers and

43

other organizations have been made”. The countries were Argentina,

Germany and Japan.

Other

4 PES chose “Other” and described the details. The countries were

Austria, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

PES in Austria reported that in reverse of publishing job-offers

for employers, PES have the possibility to offer those vacancies

to (registered) jobseekers.

PES in Norway described that they cooperate with large

employers for national measures for prioritized groups who are

furthest away from the labour market, e.g. unemployed young

persons in need of support.

Portugal mentioned the unemployment rate has been increasing.

The United Kingdom stated that research and evaluation has

indicated that engaging with employers and building closer

relationships enables the PES to assist those who are further

from the labour market. Sector Based Work Academies (SBWA)8

are one example in which PES engagement guarantees work

experience, training and an interview for jobseekers.

In order to capture the details of PES in each country, we hope to

collect more information and conduct further studies in future. Since

this research focuses on the relationship between PES and employers

as Social Dialogue, we will see the detailed descriptions in the next

question

.

8 https://www.gov.uk/jobcenter-plus-help-for-recruiters/other-employment-schemes

44

Figure 16: Factors that strengthen PES for employers

Response: PES in 10 countries stated factors that strengthen PES for employers.


The number of unfilled offers has been

increasing

The need of employment services from

employers has been increasing

Other

New policies/agreements between employers

and other organizations have been made



Employees’ working patterns have been

changing

The relationship between employers and

employees has been changing

Working conditions provided by employers

have been deteriorating

n=10

(PES)

45

Table 3: Factors that strengthen PES for employers

The number

of job offers

has been

decreasing

The number

of unfilled

offers has

been

increasing

The need of

employment

services from

employers

has been

increasing

Working

conditions

provided by

employers

have been

deteriorating

The

relationship

between

employers

and

employees

has been

changing

01 Argentina

02 Armenia ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○

25 Moldova ○


32 Portugal ○

43 United Kingdom

2) If you checked the “Yes” box in 1) above’ what do

you think has caused PES organizations to want to

strengthen them?(multiple answers allowed)

Employees’

working

patterns have

been

changing

New

industries/bu

sinesses

have been

increasing

New

laws/regulatio

ns have been

enacted

New

policies/agre

ements

between

employers

and other

organizations

have been

made

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○

02 Armenia ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○

14 Germany ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○

25 Moldova


32 Portugal ○


46

3) Description about employment circumstances shifting

6 PES in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway

chose “The relationship between employers and employees has been

changing” or “Employees’ working patterns have been changing”

above in 2)’. 5 PES except Germany reported what changes have

taken place.

We found some common points in the descriptions of 5 PES.

The employers’ demands for employees have been increasing.

Employers wish to find employees with high skills or professional

knowledge.

The number of non-regular employees and temporary (short-term

contract) employees has been increasing. Those employees wish

for good employment conditions, such as a good salary, training

opportunities and flexible working hours, including occupational

mobility.

As Norway reported, both employers and employees require more

efficient services in job placements. When considering the

increasing gap between employers’ demand and employees’

current working conditions, no wonder the mismatching between

employers and employees is more and more severe.

The details are as follows.

Austria

The number of employees working in part-time jobs, in non-standard

employment and as temporary worker, has been (as well as those job-

offers) increasing for years.

Bulgaria

Has started new services and industries with high requirements for

knowledge and skill of candidates.

Japan

Social economic structure in Japan has been dramatically changing.

The long lasting sluggish has brought an increase in non-regular

employees from 16 million in 2005 to 18 million in 2012.

47

As a result, social requirements for decent work are going up. In order

to make it possible, improved training systems and human resource

management systems in companies are required to allow employees

to make the best use of their skills and abilities. Employers should try

to make more diverse working styles for their employees (mainly non-

regular employees) while providing their stable employment.

Moldova

Developments in demographic and labor market indicators in the

Republic of Moldova in the last period -as well as current and future

trends and implications of developments in European integration

perspective and developing a consolidated market economies- have

led to increasing demands of employers in terms of skills, qualification

level, experiences, mobility and individual motivation to hold a job.

The existence of these discrepancies between employers and

jobseekers has motivated the public employment service to introduce

some new measures in the labour market. In the past most companies

were state companies, currently the private sector (small and medium

business) ranks first.

Employers want to hire people who would work with a fixed salary, a

set number of hours and highly skilled. On the other hand, jobseekers

are looking for employers who would offer a higher salary, flexible

working programs and more facilities than they currently offer.

Norway

More and shorter employment contracts.

Increased occupational mobility.

The number of recruitment agencies have increased and are

looking for labour through Arbetsförmedlingen.

Increased recruitment through online services and social media.

48

4.3) Details about communication between PES and

employers

Summary

We found that PES communicate with employers well, although there

were some different or unique points among countries.

1 Service structure

The majority of the PES (9 of 10) reported that PES provided

services for employers only via PES offices while 1 PES reported

that PES provided services via outsourcing (private sector).

2 Relationship between employment services and

laws/regulations

The majority the PES (9 of 10) reported that there were laws/

regulations that defined PES for employers while 1 PES reported

that there were not laws/regulations.

Within 9 PES, the most common contents that stated in the

laws/regulations was ”There are specific cases where job offers

should be rejected by PES offices”.

3 Personal Support Services (PSS) for recruiting/identifying

suitable candidates

All PES reported that “Personal Support Services (PSS) for

recruiting/identifying suitable candidates for vacancies” were

available as nationwide services at PES offices. (See “Short

Summery” of “4.3.3 Personal Support Services (PSS) for

recruiting/identifying suitable candidates”.)

4 Good practices and developing a good relationship between

PES offices and employers

9 PES except Portugal described detail any particularly beneficial

practices for PES offices with respect to developing a good

relationship with employers.

49

4.3.1 Service structure

1) The way of providing services

All 10 PES answered the question about whether or not PES should

provide services for employers via outsourcing by multiple choice. The

options were as follows.

Yes, via the private sector

No, only via PES offices

Other

While 1 PES in the United Kingdom reported that PES provided

services for employers via outsourcing (private sector), the majority of

the PES (9 of 10) reported that PES provided the only via PES offices.

The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany,

Japan, Moldova, Norway and Portugal (Figure 17).

None of the PES chose either “Other” or more than 2 options.

Figure 17: The way of providing services

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated the way of providing services.

n=10

(PES)

50

4.3.2 Relationship between employment services and

laws/regulations

1) Laws/regulations that define PES for employers

PES in Argentina reported that there are not laws/regulations that

define PES for employers. On the other hand, the other 9 PES

reported that there are laws/regulations that define PES for employers.

The countries were Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom (Figure 18).

Figure 18: Any laws/regulations that define PES for employers

9 1

0 2 4 6 8 10

Yes, there are

No, there are not

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated whether or not there are not

laws/regulations that define PES for employers.

2) Details of laws/regulations that define PES for employers

9 PES that answered “Yes, they do” box in the Figure 18, selected the

relevant laws/regulations by multiple answer. The options were as

follows.

PES offices shall accept all offers as a general rule

There are specific cases where job offers should be rejected by

PES offices (*ex: offers whose content violates a law or

regulation)

Working conditions needing to be clearly described on job offer

cards

PES offices should develop new job offers from employers

n=10

(PES)

51

Screening for there should be suitable candidates

Other


Among 9 PES, “There are specific cases where job offers should be

rejected by PES offices (*ex: offers whose content violates a law or

regulation)”, “Working conditions needing to be clearly described on

job offer cards” and “Screening for there should be suitable

candidates” are popular because 7 to 9 PES chose these options.

The result about each option was as shown below (Figure 19 / Table 4).

PES offices shall accept all offers as a general rule

5 PES chose “PES offices shall accept all offers as a general rule”. The

countries were Armenia, Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway.

There are specific cases where job offers should be rejected by

PES offices

All 9 PES chose “There are specific cases where job offers should be

rejected by PES offices (*ex: offers whose content violates a law or

regulation)”.

Working conditions needing to be clearly described on job

offer cards

8 PES chose “Working conditions needing to be clearly described on

job offer cards”. The countries were Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria,

Germany, Japan, Moldova, Norway and Portugal.

PES offices should develop new job offers from employers

5 PES chose “PES offices should develop new job offers from

employers”. The countries were Austria, Germany, Japan, Moldova and

Norway.

Screening for there should be suitable candidates

7 PES chose “Screening for there should be suitable candidates”. The

countries were Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova,

52

and Norway.

Other

1 PES in the United Kingdom chose “Other” and reported as follows.

Vacancies must adhere to legislation regarding National

Minimum wage and other employment law such as

discrimination. This includes grounds such as age, race, sex

disability (Some limited exceptions exists for ‘Genuine

Occupational Reasons’).


All 9 PES chose more than 2 options (Table 4). It shows PES in each

country has some (not a single) relevant laws/regulations that define

PES for employers. The result about each option was as shown below.

Armenia

PES in Armenia chose 4 options. The options were “PES offices shall

accept all offers as a general rule”, “There are specific cases where

job offers should be rejected by PES offices”, “Working conditions

needing to be clearly described on job offer cards” and “Screening for

there should be suitable candidates”.

Austria

PES in Austria chose 4 options. The options were “There are specific

cases where job offers should be rejected by PES offices”, “Working

conditions needing to be clearly described on job offer cards”, “PES

offices should develop new job offers from employers” and “Screening

for there should be suitable candidates”.

Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose 3 options. The options were “There are specific

cases where job offers should be rejected by PES offices”, “Working

conditions needing to be clearly described on job offer cards” and

“Screening for there should be suitable candidates”.

Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway

53

PES in Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway chose the same 4

options. The options were “PES offices shall accept all offers as a

general rule”, “There are specific cases where job offers should be

rejected by PES offices”, “Working conditions needing to be clearly

described on job offer cards” and “Screening for there should be

suitable candidates”.

Portugal

PES in Portugal chose 2 options. The options were “There are specific

cases where job offers should be rejected by PES offices” and

“Working conditions needing to be clearly described on job offer cards”.

United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom chose 2 options. The options were “There

are specific cases where job offers should be rejected by PES offices”

and “Other”. PES in the United Kingdom explained the details of

“Other” is shown above 2-1)’.

54

Figure19: Details of Laws/regulations that define

PES for employers

1

7

5

8

9

5

0 2 4 6 8 10

Other

Screening for there should be suitablecandidates

PES offices should develop new job offersfrom employers

Working conditions needing to be clearlydescribed on job offer cards

There are specific cases where job offersshould be rejected by PES offices

PES offices shall accept all offers as a generalrule

Response: PES in 9 countries stated details of laws/regulations.

Table 4: Details of Laws/regulations that define PES for employers

PES offices

shall accept

all offers as a

general rule

There are

specific

cases where

job offers

should be

rejected by

PES offices

Working

conditions

needing to be

clearly

described on

job offer

cards

PES offices

should

develop new

job offers

from

employers

Screening for

there should

be suitable

candidates

Other

02 Armenia ○ ○ ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

25 Moldova ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

30 Norway ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

32 Portugal ○ ○

43 United Kingdom ○ ○

2) If you checked the “Yes” box in 1) above’ then please select the

relevant laws/regulations. (multiple answers allowed)

Laws/regulations that define

n=9

(PES)

55

4.3.3 Personal Support Services (PSS) for recruiting/

identifying suitable candidates

Short summary

As is often the case with services for jobseekers, PES in several

countries succeed in providing counseling and introducing job offers to

each jobseeker according to their each condition. As for services for

employers, however, PES have yet to acquire clear evidence whether

Personal Support Services - activities that aimed at PES organizations

providing individual services for employers according to their individual

situation and demand - are efficient or not. In this part, we focus on the

details of Personal Support Services.

1 Personal Support Services (PSS) for recruiting/identifying

suitable candidates to fill vacancies

All PES reported that “Personal Support Services (PSS) for

recruiting/identifying suitable candidates for vacancies” were

available as nationwide at PES offices.

2 The base of the PSS

The most common base of the PSS among 10 PES was “PES office

manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or equivalent

Ministry/central authrity)”.

3 Advice that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS

“Encouraging employers to submit other new offers”, “Providing

subsidies”, “Invitations to job recruitment meetings” and “Identifying

suitable candidates” was popular advice among PES in 10 countries

that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS.

4 One service frequently provided and the most popular for

employers

The majority of the PES (6 PES) chose “Identifying suitable

candidates” as one service frequently provided and the most popular

for employers. The second most popular advice was “Providing

subsidies” chosen by 2 PES.

56

1) Personal support services for recruiting/identifying suitable

candidates to fulfill vacancies

All PES reported that “Personal Support Services for recruiting/

5 The timing of providing services

The majority of the PES (6 PES) chose “Indeterminate; typically

depends on requests from the employer” as the timing of providing

services.

6 The method of providing services

All 10 PES utilized both “By PES staff members visiting employer’s

offices” and “By phone” as the method of providing services. 6 PES

utilize these methods to identify suitable candidates and 2 PES

utilize them to provide suitable candidates.

7 The reason why PES offices in each country utilize the methods

The majority of the PES chose “To save the time and effort of PES

offices or employers” as the reason why PES offices in each country

utilize the methods of providing services for employers.

8 Evaluation of the PSS activities

The options of evaluation of the PSS activities were composed of 2

parts; overall trend and individual statistics. In the part of overall

trend, all 10 PES chose the option “Whether employers are satisfied

with PSS activities or not”. In the part of individual statistics, the

most common way was “Number of candidates hired by employers”.

9 The way PES organization strengthen employment services

The majority of the PES chose "By strengthening the network with

PES organizations" and "By developing infrastructure (online

services, establishing more PES offices, etc.)" as the way PES

organization strengthens employment services.

57

identifying suitable candidates for vacancies” (PSS9) were available

nationwide at PES offices (Figure 20).

PES in the United Kingdom stated that PES staff are assigned to

employer engagement which will include this assistance.

Figure 20 : Any of Personal Support Services

10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Yes, they are available asnationwide services

No, they are availableonly at some PES offices,

not as nationwideservices

Response: PES in all 10 countries answered the question about if “Personal

Support Services for recruiting / identifying suitable candidates for vacancies”

was available as nationwide at PES offices

2) The base of the PSS

Knowing the base of the PSS helps us to understand why it is provided

by PES in each country. If PSS are based on laws or regulations,

providing PSS falls under social responsibility. If they are based on

only own PES offices’ decisions, PSS are provided as one of the PES

voluntary activities.

9 * Personal Support Services (PSS): activities that aimed at PES organizations

providing individual services for employers according to their individual situation

and demand, and thus better satisfying their needs.

n=10 (PES)

58

In this part, all 10 PES that provided PSS answered what PSS was

based on by multiple choice. The options were as follows.

Laws/regulations

PES office manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or

equivalent Ministry/central authority)

Agreements made with employers or other organizations

PES offices’ own decisions

Other


Of the five options, the most popular option among 10 PES was “PES

office manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or equivalent

Ministry/central authority)”. The result about each option is as shown

below (Figure 21/ Table 5).

Laws/regulations

5 PES chose “Laws/regulations”. The countries were Armenia, Austria,

Bulgaria, Moldova and Norway.

PES office manuals

8 PES chose “PES office manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or

equivalent Ministry/central authority)”. The countries were Argentina,

Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Japan, Norway, Portugal and the United

Kingdom. This option is chosen by most countries in this question.

Agreements made with employers or other organizations

4 PES chose “Agreements made with employers or other

organizations”. The countries were Austria, Bulgaria, Japan and

Norway.


4 PES chose “PES offices’ own decisions”. The countries were

Armenia, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Others

None of PES chose “Others”.

59


While 3 of 10 PES chose a single option, 7 PES chose several (Table

5).

PES that chose a single option

4 PES chose a single option. The countries were Argentina, Germany,

Moldova and Portugal.

Argentina and Portugal

PES in Argentina and Portugal chose only “PES office manuals

made by the Ministry of Labour (or equivalent Ministry/central

authority)”.

Germany

PES in Germany chose only “PES offices’ own decisions”.

Moldova

PES in Moldova chose only “Laws/regulations”.

PES that chose some options

6 PES chose 2 to 3 options. The countries were Armenia, Austria,

Bulgaria, Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom. PES in these

countries stated that in addition to PES office manuals they have other

bases.

Armenia

PES in Armenia chose 3 options. The options were “Laws/

regulations”, “PES office manuals made by the Ministry of Labour

(or equivalent Ministry/central authority)” and “PES offices’ own

decisions”.

Austria and Bulgaria

PES in Austria and Bulgaria chose the same 3 options. The options

were “Laws/regulations” and “Agreements made with employers or

other organizations”.

60

Japan

PES in Japan chose 2 potions. The options were “PES office

manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or equivalent

Ministry/central authority)” and “Agreements made with employers

or other organizations”.

Norway

PES in Norway chose 4 options. The options were

“Laws/regulations”, “PES office manuals made by the Ministry of

Labour (or equivalent Ministry/central authority)”, “Agreements

made with employers or other organizations” and “PES offices’ own

decisions”.

United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom chose 2 options. The options were

“PES office manuals made by the Ministry of Labour (or equivalent

Ministry/central authority)” and “PES offices’ own decisions”.

Figure 21 : The base of the PSS

0

4

4

8

5

0 2 4 6 8 10

Other


Agreements made with employers orother organizations

PES office manuals made by theMinistry of Labour (or equivalent

Ministry/central authority)

Laws/regulations

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated the base of the PSS.

n=10

(PES)

61

Table 5: The base of the PSS

Laws/regulatio

ns

PES office

manuals made

by the Ministry

of Labour (or

equivalent

Ministry/central

authority)

Agreements

made with

employers or

other

organizations

PES offices’

own decisions

Other

01 Argentina ○02 Armenia ○ ○ ○04 Austria ○ ○ ○08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○14 Germany ○17 Japan ○ ○25 Moldova ○30 Norway ○ ○ ○ ○32 Portugal ○43 United Kingdom ○ ○

2) What is the PSS based on ?

(multiple answers allowed)

3) Advice that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS

When providing PSS, PES should give appropriate advice that

employees really need. We found the needs of employers by looking

at what kind of advice PES offices give to employers as part of PSS.

In this part, all 10 PES reported what advice PES offices give to

employers as part of PSS by multiple choice. The options were the

following items:

Encouraging employers to submit other new offers

Encouraging employers to improve offers/work conditions

Providing subsidies

Invitations to job recruitment meetings

Identifying suitable candidates

Support for starting businesses

Personnel management advice (vocational training etc.)

Other

62


“Encouraging employers to submit other new offers”, “Providing

subsidies”, “Invitations to job recruitment meetings” and “Identifying

suitable candidates” were popular pieces of advice among PES in 10

countries that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS (Figure 22/

Table 6).

On the other hand, “Encouraging employers to improve offers/work

conditions” and “Personnel management advice (vocational training

etc.)”.were minor pieces of advice. The result about each option is

shown below;

Encouraging employers to submit other new offers

All 10 PES chose “Encouraging employers to submit other new offers”.

Encouraging employers to improve offers/work conditions

3 PES chose “Encouraging employers to improve offers/work

conditions”. The countries were Argentina, Bulgaria and Japan.

Providing subsidies

Except Moldova, 9 PES chose “Providing subsidies”.


8 PES chose “Invitations to job recruitment meetings”. The countries

were Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Norway, Portugal

and the United Kingdom.


All 10 PES chose “Identifying suitable candidates”.


5 PES chose “Support for starting businesses”. The countries were

Austria, Germany, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Personnel management advice (vocational training etc.)

2 PES chose “Personnel management advice (vocational training etc.)”.

63

The countries were Austria and Norway.

Others

1 PES in Moldova chose “others”. Moldova reported as follows.

The other factors are organization of information seminars for

the employers which inform them about the changes and new

provisions in the labour law, and of course information about the

services provided by the employment agency and the

opportunities of collaboration.


PES in all countries chose several options (Table 6). None of them

chose a single option. It indicates that PES in all countries utilize

several kinds of advice so that PES offices can give it to employers as

part of PSS.

Figure 22: Advice that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS

1

2

5

10

8

9

3

10

0 2 4 6 8 10

Other

Personnel management advice (vocational

training etc.)




Providing subsidies

Encouraging employers to improve

offers/work conditions

Encouraging employers to submit other

new offers

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated advice that PES offices give to employers as

part of PSS by multiple choice.

n=10

(PES)

64

Table 6: Advice that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS

Encouragi

ng

employers

to submit

other new

offers

Encouragi

ng

employers

to improve

offers/work

conditions

Providing

subsidies

Invitations

to job

recruitment

meetings

Identifying

suitable

candidates

Support

for starting

businesse

s

Personnel

managem

ent advice

(vocational

training

etc.)

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○ ● ○

02 Armenia ○ ● ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ● ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○ ○ ●

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ● ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○ ●

25 Moldova ○ ○ ● ○

30 Norway ○ ○ ○ ● ○ ○

32 Portugal ○ ○ ○ ○

43 United Kingdom ● ○ ○ ○ ○

3) What advice do PES offices give to employers as part of PSS? (multiple answers allowed)

4) Of services you checked in 3) above’ please choose ONE service FREQUENTLY provided

and the MOST POPULAR for employers. (●)

4) One service frequently provided and the most popular for

employers

9 PES except Portugal10 described one service which is frequently

provided and the most popular for employers (Figure 23/Table 6). They

chose it from advice they checked in the previous question 3)’.

6 PES chose “Identifying suitable candidates”. The countries are

Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway.

2 PES chose “Providing subsidies”. The countries are Argentina and

Armenia.

1 PES chose “Encouraging employers to submit other new offers”. The

country is the United Kingdom that described as follows.

Encouraging employers to submit other new offers is currently

the most frequent activity due to the launch of “Universal

Jobmatch11”.

10 PES in Portugal chose all services they chose in the previous questions 3)’. 11 Portal site of job placement (https://www.gov.uk/jobsearch)

65

Figure 23 : One service frequently provided and the most popular

for employers

Identifying

suitable

candidates, 6

Providing

subsidies, 2

Encouraging

employers to

submit other

new offers

, 1

0 2 4 6 8 10

Response: PES in 9 countries stated one service which frequently provided and

the most popular for employers.

5) The timing of providing services

The timing of providing services for employers is one of the most

important factors as well as a content of services themselves, so as to

satisfy employers’ needs according to their individual situation and

demand.

In this part, all 10 PES answered by multiple choice when the services

they checked above in 4)’ were provided. The options were the

following items.

Indeterminate; typically depends on PES office decisions

Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from the employer

When PES offices accept job offer

Within 7 days after job offer is accepted

1 to 3 weeks after job offer is accepted

More than 3 weeks after job offer is accepted

Other

(PES)

n=9

66


Compared to the other options, the majority of the PES chose

“Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from the employer”. The

result about each option is as shown below (Figure 24/Table 6).

Indeterminate; typically depends on PES office decisions

2 PES chose “Indeterminate; typically depends on PES office

decisions”. The countries were Japan and Norway.

Looking at the relationship with options above in 4)’, we found which

advice were provided at the timing. Both PES in Japan and Norway

provided “Identifying suitable candidates” services indeterminately;

typically depends on PES office decisions, because both of them

chose “Identifying suitable candidates” above in 4)’.

Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from the

employer

6 PES chose “Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from the

employer”. The countries were Armenia, Austria, Japan, Moldova,

Norway and Portugal.

Considering the options above in 4)’, PES in Austria, Japan, Moldova

and Norway provided “Identifying suitable candidates” services

indeterminately; typically depends on requests from the employer,

because these 4 PES chose “Identifying suitable candidates” above in

4)’.

PES in Armenia took “Providing subsidies” services for employers

indeterminately; typically depends on requests from the employer,

because PES in Armenia chose “Providing subsidies” above in 4)’.

As for PES in Portugal, we did not find which option they indicated

because of a missing appropriate answer in 4).


4 PES chose “When PES offices accept job offer”. The countries were

Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria and Norway.

Considering the options above in 4)’, PES in Austria, Bulgaria and

Norway provide “Identifying suitable candidates” services when PES

offices accept job offer, because these 3 PES chose “Identifying

67

suitable candidates” above in 4)’.

In addition, we found PES in Argentina took “Providing subsidies”

services for employers when PES offices accept job offer, because

PES in Argentina chose “Providing subsidies” above in 4)’.

Within 7 days after job offer is accepted

1 PES in Germany chose “Within 7days after job offer is accepted”.

Considering the options above in 4)’, we found PES in Germany

provided “Identifying suitable candidates” services for employers within

7 days after job offer is accepted, because PES in Germany chose

“Identifying suitable candidates” above in 4)’.

1 to 3 weeks after job offer is accepted

1 PES in Japan chose “1 to 3 weeks after job offer is accepted”.

Considering the options above in 4)’, we found PES in Japan provided

“Identifying suitable candidates” services for employers 1 to 3 weeks

after job offer is accepted, because PWS in Japan chose “Identifying


More than 3 weeks after job offer is accepted

None of PES chose “More than 3 weeks after job offer is accepted”.

Other

2 PES chose “Other”. The countries were Austria and the United

Kingdom. Austria described the timing of providing services for

employers is “immediately”. The United Kingdom reported as follows.

Service provision is determined by local PES management who

have autonomy to determine the most efficient intervention for

the local market.

Some services are national policy such as the Sector Based

Work Academies (SBWA) mentioned above, others are

developed locally.

Research and evaluation has enabled the UK PES to develop

and evaluate a range of interventions which have been proven to

be effective, and local autonomy determines the level and

frequency of application based on local issues such as

68

demographics and local labour market.


While PES in 7 of 10 PES chose a single option, 3 PES chose several

options (Table 6).


PES in Argentina, Armenia, Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova and Portugal

chose a single option. It shows that PES in these countries made it a

rule when they should provide services for employers. While the

United Kingdom chose “Other”, the details were not reported.

Armenia, Moldova and Portugal

PES in Armenia, Moldova and Portugal chose only “Indeterminate;

typically depends on requests from the employer.

Argentina and Bulgaria

PES in Argentina and Bulgaria chose no more than “When PES

offices accept job offer”.

Germany

PES in Germany chose “Within 7days after job offer is accepted”.


PES in Austria, Japan and Norway identify suitable candidates through

several occasions when they contact with employers, not one critical

point, because all 3 PES chose “Identifying suitable candidates” above

in 4)’.

Austria

PES in Austria chose “Indeterminate; typically depends on requests

from the employer”, “When PES offices accept job offer” and “Other”.

Japan

PES in Japan chose “Indeterminate; typically depends on PES

office decisions”, “Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from

69

the employer” and “1 to 3 weeks after job offer is accepted”.

Norway

PES in Norway chose “Indeterminate; typically depends on PES

office decisions”, “Indeterminate; typically depends on requests from

the employer” and “When PES offices accept job offer”.

Figure 24 : The timing of providing services

1

0

1

1

3

4

2

1

1

1

1

0 2 4 6 8 10

Other

More than 3 weeks after job offer isaccepted

1 to 3 weeks after job offer isaccepted

Within 7days after job offer isaccepted


Indeterminate; typically depends onrequests from the employer

Indeterminate; typically depends onPES office decisions

Identifying suitablecandidates

Providing subsidies

Other

Don't know

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated the timing of providing services they

checked above in 4)’.

n=10

(PES)

70

Table 6 : The timing of providing services

Indeterminat

e; typically

depends on

PES office

decisions

Indeterminat

e; typically

depends on

requests

from the

employer

When PES

offices

accept job

offer

Within

7days after

job offer is

accepted

1 to 3

weeks after

job offer is

accepted

More than 3

weeks after

job offer is

accepted

Other

01 Argentina ○02 Armenia ○04 Austria ○ ○ ○08 Bulgaria ○14 Germany ○17 Japan ○ ○ ○25 Moldova ○30 Norway ○ ○ ○32 Portugal ○43 United Kingdom ○

5) When are the services you checked in 4) above’ provided? (multiple answers allowed)

6) The method of providing services

The method of providing services for employers is an important factor

to satisfy employers’ needs according to their individual situation and

demand.

In this part, all 10 PES answered by multiple choice how the services

they checked above in 4)’ are provided. The options were the following

items.

By encouraging employers to visit PES office

By PES staff members visiting employer’s offices

By e-mail

By post

By phone

Other


All methods were utilized by several countries (Figure 25/Table 7). In

particular, all 10 PES utilized both “By PES staff members visiting

employer’s offices” and “By phone”. The result about each option is as

shown below.

71

By encouraging employers to visit PES office

7 PES chose “By encouraging employers to visit PES office”. The

countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Japan, Norway, Portugal

and the United Kingdom.

Looking at the relationship with options above in 4)’, we found which

advice was provided by encouraging employers to visit PES office in 5

PES12.

PES in Austria, Japan and Norway provide “Identifying suitable

candidates” services for employers by encouraging employers to visit

PES office, because these 3 PES chose “Identifying suitable

candidates” above in 4)’.

PES in Argentina and Armenia took “Providing subsidies” services for

employers by encouraging employers to visit PES office, because

these 2 PES chose “Providing subsidies” above in 4)’.

By PES staff members visiting employer’s offices

All 10 PES chose “By PES staff members visiting employer’s offices”.

Considering the relationship with the options above in 4)’, PES in

Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Moldova and Norway provided

“Identifying suitable candidates” services for employers by PES staff

members visiting employer’s offices, because these 6 PES chose

“Identifying suitable candidates” above in 4)’.

PES in Argentina and Armenia took “Providing subsidies” services for

employers by PES staff members visiting employer’s offices, because

these 2 PES chose “Providing subsidies” above in 4)’.

By e-mail

8 PES chose “By e-mail”. The countries were Argentina, Austria,

Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova, Norway, Portugal and the United

Kingdom.

Looking at the result of 4) above’, PES in Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, 12 5 PES include Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Japan, and Norway (Explanation in following options are the same).

PES in Portugal and the United Kingdom are not mentioned in this part, because PES in the United Kingdom chose “Other” above in 4)’ and we did not find the detail about "Other". As for

PES in Portugal, we did not find which option they indicated because of missing appropriate answer in 4).

72

Moldova and Norway provide “Identifying suitable candidates” services

for employers by e-mail, because these 5 PES chose “Identifying


PES in Argentina took “Providing subsidies” services for employers by

e-mail”, because PES in Argentina chose “Providing subsidies” above

in 4)’.

By post

6 PES chose “By post”. The countries were Austria, Germany, Japan,

Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Thinking about the options above in 4)’, PES in Austria, Germany,

Japan and Norway provided “Identifying suitable candidates” services

for employers by post, because these 4 PES chose “Identifying


By phone

All 10 PES chose “By phone” The breakdown of countries and

services was the same as “By PES staff members visiting employer’s

offices” on that.

Other


Kingdom.

PES in Austria stated that job-seekers are invited for at PES

offices by face to face job interviews.

PES in United Kingdom reported PES utilize randomised control

trials and other evaluation methods such as customer insight

surveys. These can be either in-house or independent.


PES in all countries chose more than one options (Table 7). It shows

that PES in all countries utilize some methods so that PES offices can

give it to employers as part of PSS.

73

Figure 25 : The method of providing services

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated the method of providing services that

they checked above in 4)’.

Table 7 : The method of providing services

By

encouraging

employers

to visit PES

office

By PES

staff

members

visiting

employer’s

offices

By e-mail By post By phone Other

01 Argentina ○ ○ ○ ○02 Armenia ○ ○ ○04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○25 Moldova ○ ○ ○30 Norway ○ ○ ○ ○ ○32 Portugal ○ ○ ○ ○ ○43 United Kingdom ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

6) How are the services that you checked in 4) above’ provided to

employers?

(multiple answers allowed)

n=10

(PES)

74

7) The reason why PES offices utilize the methods

For us to understand the relationship between PES offices and

employers, it is valuable to find the reason why PES offices in each

country utilize the methods of providing services for employers.

In this part, all 10 PES answered by multiple choice why PES offices

utilize the above methods. The options were the following items.

To ensure a reaction from employers

To verify that offers have improved

To save the time and effort of PES offices or employers

To conserve the finances of PES offices or employers

As good training for PES office staff members

Other


All reasons were chosen by several countries (Figure 26/Table 8). In

particular, the option “To save the time and effort of PES offices or

employers” was chosen by the most countries of all options. The result

about each option is as shown below.

To ensure a reaction from employers

5 PES chose “To ensure a reaction from employers”. The countries

were Argentina, Austria, Germany, Japan and Moldova.

To verify that offers have improved

4 PES chose “To verify that offers have improved”. The countries were

Armenia, Austria, Japan and Portugal.

To save the time and effort of PES offices or employers

6 PES chose “To save the time and effort of PES offices or employers”.

The countries were Armenia, Austria, Germany, Moldova, Norway and

Portugal.

To conserve the finances of PES offices or employers

2 PES chose “To conserve the finances of PES offices or employers”.

The countries were Germany and Moldova.

75

As good training for PES office staff members

3 PES chose “As good training for PES office staff members”. The

countries were Argentina, Bulgaria and Japan.

Other


Kingdom. Austria described the reason for utilizing the methods as “to

fill vacancies”.


3 PES in Bulgaria, Norway and the United Kingdom chose a single

option while 7 PES in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova and Portugal chose 2 to 4 options (Table 8).


Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose “As good training for PES office staff

members”.

Norway

PES in Norway chose only “To save the time and effort of PES

offices or employers”.

United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom chose only “Other”.


Argentina

PES in Argentina chose 2 options. The options were “To ensure a

reaction from employers” and “As good training for PES office staff

members”.

Armenia and Portugal

PES in Armenia and Portugal chose the same 2 options. The

options were “To verify that offers have improved” and “To save the

76

time and effort of PES offices or employers”.

Austria

PES in Austria chose 4 options. The options were “To ensure a

reaction from employers”, “To verify that offers have improved”, “To

save the time and effort of PES offices or employers” and “Other”.

Germany and Moldova

2 PES in Germany and Moldova chose the same 3 options. The

options were “To ensure a reaction from employers”, “To save the

time and effort of PES offices or employers” and “To conserve the

finances of PES offices or employers”.

Japan

PES in Japan chose 3 options. The options were “To ensure a

reaction from employers”, “To verify that offers have improved” and

“As good training for PES office staff members”.

Figure 26 : The reason why PES offices utilize the methods

2

3

2

6

4

5

0 2 4 6 8 10

O t h e r

A s g o o d t r a i n i n g f o r P E S o f f i c e s t a f f m e m b e r s

T o c o n s e r v e t h e f i n a n c e s o f P E S o f f i c e s o re m p l o y e r s

T o s a v e t h e t i m e a n d e f f o r t o f P E S o f f i c e s o re m p l o y e r s

T o v e r i f y t h a t o f f e r s h a v e i m p r o v e d

T o e n s u r e a r e a c t i o n f r o m e m p l o y e r s

Response: PES in all 10 countries stated the reason why PES offices utilize the

above methods.

n=10

(PES)

77

Table 8 : The reason why PES offices utilize the methods

To ensure a

reaction

from

employers

To verify

that offers

have

improved

To save the

time and

effort of

PES offices

or

employers

To

conserve

the finances

of PES

offices or

employers

As good

training for

PES office

staff

members

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○02 Armenia ○ ○04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○08 Bulgaria ○14 Germany ○ ○ ○17 Japan ○ ○ ○25 Moldova ○ ○ ○30 Norway ○32 Portugal ○ ○43 United Kingdom ○

7) Why do PES offices utilize the above methods? (multiple answers

allowed)

8) Evaluation of the PSS activities

As PSS aimed that PES organizations should provide individual

services for employers according to their individual situation and

demand, and thus better satisfying their needs, the way PES

organizations evaluate them are crucial to build and keep good

relationships with employers.

In this part, all 10 PES answered how PES evaluate the PSS activities

they checked above in 3)’ by multiple choice. The options were the

following items in two categories

【Overall trend】

Whether the number of applicants has increased or not

Whether the number of additional offers submitted by

employers with PSS has increased or not

Whether the number of filled offers has increased or not

Whether employers are satisfied with PSS activities or not

78

Whether PES greatly affects the local labour market

Whether PES organizations help maintain a good relationship

with employers

Other

【Individual statistics】

Number of additional offers

Number of offers/work conditions that have being improved

Number of employers utilizing subsidies

Number of employers attending job recruitment meetings

Number of candidates hired by employers

Number of businesses started

Amount of personnel management advice

Other

8-1) Analysis by options (Overall trend)

All options from the first category except “Other” were chosen by more

than 5 PES (Figure 27/Table 9). In particular, all 10 PES chose the

option “Whether employers are satisfied with PSS activities or not”.

The result about each option is as shown below.

Whether the number of applicants has increased or not

7 PES chose “Whether the number of applicants has increased or not”.

The countries were Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan,

Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Whether the number of additional offers submitted by

employers with PSS has increased or not

6 PES chose “Whether the number of additional offers submitted by

employers with PSS has increased or not”. The countries were

Argentina, Austria, Germany, Moldova, Norway and Portugal.

Whether the number of filled offers has increased or not

6 PES chose “Whether the number of filled offers has increased or not”.

The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Germany, Japan and

Portugal.

79

Whether employers are satisfied with PSS activities or not

All 10 PES chose ”Whether employers are satisfied with PSS activities

or not”.

Whether PES greatly affects the local labour market

5 PES chose “Whether PES greatly affects the local labour market”.

The countries were Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Portugal.

Whether PES organizations help maintain a good relationship

with employers

8 PES chose “Whether PES organizations help maintain a good

relationship with employers”. The countries were Argentina, Armenia,

Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Norway and Portugal.

Other

None of PES chose “Other”.

8-2) Analysis by countries (Overall trend)

All 10 PES chose 2 to 6 options (Table 9). Basically, all PES evaluate

the PSS activities in some ways. The details are as follows.

Argentina, Austria, Germany and Portugal

4 PES in Argentina, Austria, Germany and Portugal chose all options

except “Other”.

Armenia

PES in Armenia chose 3 options. The options were “Whether the

number of filled offers has increased or not”, “Whether employers are

satisfied with PSS activities or not” and “Whether PES organizations

help maintain a good relationship with employers”.

Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose 4 options. The options were “Whether the

number of applicants has increased or not”, “Whether employers are

satisfied with PSS activities or not”, “Whether PES greatly affects the

80

local labour market” and “Whether PES organizations help maintain a

good relationship with employers”.

Japan

PES in Japan chose 4 options. The options were “Whether the number

of applicants has increased or not”, “Whether the number of filled

offers has increased or not”, “Whether employers are satisfied with

PSS activities or not” and “Whether PES organizations help maintain a

good relationship with employers”.

Moldova

PES in Moldova chose 2 options. The options were “Whether the

number of additional offers submitted by employers with PSS has

increased or not” and “Whether employers are satisfied with PSS

activities or not”.

Norway

PES in Norway chose 3 options. The options were “Whether the

number of additional offers submitted by employers with PSS has

increased or not”, “Whether employers are satisfied with PSS activities

or not” and “Whether PES organizations help maintain a good

relationship with employers”.

United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom chose 2 options. The options were

“Whether the number of additional offers submitted by employers with

PSS has increased or not” and “Whether employers are satisfied with

PSS activities or not”.

81

Figure 27 : The way PES evaluate the PSS activities (Overall trend)

Response: PES in all 10 stated the way PES evaluate the PSS activities they checked

above in 3)’.

n=10

(PES)

82

Table 9 : The way PES evaluate the PSS activities (Overall trend)

Whether the

number of

applicants

has

increased or

not

Whether the

number of

additional

offers

submitted by

employers

with PSS has

increased or

not

Whether the

number of

filled offers

has

increased or

not

Whether

employers

are satisfied

with PSS

activities or

not

Whether

PES greatly

affects the

local labour

market

Whether

PES

organizations

help maintain

a good

relationship

with

employers

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

02 Armenia ○ ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○ ○

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○

25 Moldova ○ ○


32 Portugal ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

43 United Kingdom ○ ○

8) How do you evaluate the PSS activities you checked in 3) above?(multiple answers supported)

【Overall trend】

8-3) Analysis by options (Individual statistics)

All PES except the United Kingdom 13 chose the way of PES

evaluation for the PSS activities related to individual statistics by

multiple choice (Figure 27). Of them, the most popular way was

“Number of candidates hired by employers”. The result about each

option is as shown below.

Number of additional offers

6 PES chose “Number of additional offers”. The countries were

Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan and Portugal. PES in

Bulgaria reported the number of additional offers in 2012 was 127,143.

Compared to the result of advice that PES offices give to employers as

part of PSS above in 3)’, we found the following facts.

Target of both PSS and evaluation:

6 PES in Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan and Portugal

13 PES in the United Kingdom did not answer this section.

83

also chose "Encouraging employers to submit other new offers"

above in 3)'. It shows that encouraging employers to submit other

new offers is one of the available types of advice as part of PSS for

these 6 PES, at the same time, these 6 PES evaluate it by counting

the number of additional offers.

Target of PSS, but not target of evaluation:

PES in Armenia, Moldova and Norway did not chose “Number of

additional offers” in this part while these 3 PES chose "Encouraging

employers to submit other new offers" above in 3)'. It indicates that

encouraging employers to submit other new offers is one of the

available advices as part of PSS for these 6 PES, yet, PES in these

countries do not regard its result as the way of PES evaluation for

the PSS activities.

Number of offers/work conditions that have being improved

3 PES chose “Number of offers/work conditions that have being

improved”. The countries were Austria, Japan and Portugal.

Looking at the result of advice that PES offices give to employers as

part of PSS above in 3)’, we found the following facts.


PES in Japan also chose "Encouraging employers to improve

offers/work conditions" above in 3)'. It shows that encouraging

employers to improve offers/work conditions is one of the available

types of advice as part of PSS for PES in Japan as well as an

evaluation target by counting the number of offers/work conditions

that are being improved.

On the other hand, PES in Austria and Portugal did not chose

"Encouraging employers to improve offers/work conditions" above in

3)' while these 2 PES chose “Number of offers/work conditions that

have being improved” in this part. We need to find further details

about this result.


84

PES in Argentina and Bulgaria did not chose “Number of offers/work

conditions that have being improved” in this part, yet these 2 PES

chose “Encouraging employers to improve offers/work conditions”

above in 3)'. Basically, encouraging employers to improve

offers/work conditions was one of the available types of advice as

part of PSS for these 2 PES, however, PES in these countries did

not regard its result as the way of PES evaluation for the PSS

activities.

Number of employers utilizing subsidies

7 PES chose “Number of employers utilizing subsidies”. The countries

were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Germany, Japan, Norway and

Portugal.

Considering the result of advice that PES offices gave to employers as

part of PSS above in 3)’, we found the following facts;


These 7 PES also chose “Providing subsidies” as advice that PES

offices give to employers as part of PSS above in 3)’. It indicates

that providing subsidies is one of the available types of advice as

part of PSS for these 7 PES, at the same time, these 7 PES

evaluate it by counting the number of employers utilizing subsidies.


2 PES in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom did not choose “Number

of employers utilizing subsidies” in this part while these 2 PES

chose “Providing subsidies” as advice that PES offices give to

employers as part of PSS above in 3)’. Basically, providing

subsidies was one of the available types of advice as part of PSS

for PES in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom, however, these 2 PES

did not regard its result as the way of PES evaluation for the PSS

activities.

Number of employers attending job recruitment meetings

6 PES chose “Number of employers attending job recruitment

85

meetings”. The countries were Armenia, Austria, Japan, Moldova,


Compared with the result of advice that PES offices give to employers

as part of PSS above in 3)’, we found the following facts;


5 PES in Armenia, Austria, Japan, Moldova and Norway also chose

“Invitations to job recruitment meetings” as advice that PES offices

give to employers as part of PSS above in 3)’. It indicates that

inviting to job recruitment meetings is one of the available types of

advice as part of PSS for these 5 PES and they evaluate it by

counting the number of employers attending job recruitment

meetings.

As for PES in Portugal, they did not chose “Invitations to job

recruitment meetings” above in 3)' while they chose “Number of

employers attending job recruitment meetings” in this part. We need

to find further details about this result.


3 PES in Bulgaria, Germany and the United Kingdom did not

choose “Number of employers attending job recruitment meetings”

in this part while these 3 PES chose “Invitations to job recruitment

meetings” above in 3)'. Basically, inviting job recruitment meetings

was one of the available types of advice as part of PSS for PES in

Bulgaria, Germany and the United Kingdom, however, these 3 PES

did not regard its result as the way of PES evaluation for the PSS

activities.

Number of candidates hired by employers

8 PES chose “Number of candidates hired by employers”. The

countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova, and Portugal. The option was chosen by the majority of the

PES in this part. PES in Bulgaria also reported the number of

candidates hired by employers in 2012 was 173,769.

86

Considering the result that all 10 PES chose "Identifying suitable

candidates" above in 3)’, we found the following facts.


8 PES in Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova, and Portugal also chose “Identifying suitable candidates”

as advice that PES offices give to employers as part of PSS in

above in 3)’. Basically, they dealt with “Identifying suitable

candidates” as part of PSS for employers and they also evaluated it

by getting the result of the number of candidates hired by employers.


2 PES in Norway and the United Kingdom did not choose "Number

of candidates hired by employers” in this part while these 2 PES

chose “Identifying suitable candidates” as advice that PES offices

give to employers as part of PSS in above in 3)’. It shows that

identifying suitable candidates is one of the available types of

advice as part of PSS for PES in Norway and the United Kingdom,

yet, these 2 PES did not regard it as an evaluation target.

Number of businesses started

3 PES chose “Number of businesses started”. The countries were

Bulgaria, Germany and Portugal. PES in Bulgaria reported the number

of business started in 2012 was 214.

Looking at the result of advice that PES offices give to employers as

part of PSS above in 3)’, we found the following facts;


2 PES in Germany and Portugal chose “Support for starting

businesses” as advice that PES offices give to employers as part of

PSS above in 3)’.It means that they provide “Support for starting

businesses” as part of PSS for employers and they also evaluate it

by counting number of businesses started.

While PES in Bulgaria did not chose “Support for starting

87

businesses” above in 3)’, they chose “Support for starting

businesses” in this part. Further details about this result seem to be

necessary to understand this fact.


3 PES in Austria, Norway and the United Kingdom did not choose

“Support for starting businesses” in this part. On the other hand,

they chose “Support for starting businesses” as advice that PES

offices give to employers above in 3)’. It leads that 3 PES in Austria,

Norway and the United Kingdom provide support for starting

businesses as part of PSS, however, they do not deal with the result

to evaluate.

Amount of personnel management advice

1 PES in Bulgaria chose “Amount of personnel management advice”.

The number in 2012 was 475,840.

Compared to the result of advice that PES offices give to employers as

part of PSS above in 3)’, we found that PES in Bulgaria did not chose

“Personnel management advice (vocational training etc.)” above in 3)’

so that we need more information about this result.


While 2 PES in Austria and Norway did not choose “Amount of

personnel management advice” in this part, they chose "Personnel

management advice (vocational training etc.)" as advice that PES

offices give to employers above in 3)’.It shows that 2 PES in Austria

and Norway provide personnel management advice (vocational

training etc.) as part of PSS, yet, they do not consider it as an

evaluation target.

Other

1 PES in Norway chose “Other”. PES in Norway described that results

are often evaluated at PES internal meetings, either on an individual

basis or in group, depending on tasks.

88

8-4) Analysis by countries (Individual statistics)

All PES except the United Kingdom14 chose 2 to 6 options (Table 10).

Basically, almost all PES evaluate the PSS activities in some ways

with the view of individual statistics.

Argentina

PES in Argentina chose 3 options. The options are “Number of

additional offers”, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies” and

“Number of candidates hired by employers”.

Of them, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies” should be one of

the most important ways to evaluate PES activities considering

individual statistics because PES in Argentina chose “Providing

subsidies” as one service frequently provided and the most popular for

employers above in 4)’ (Table 6).

Armenia

PES in Armenia chose 3 options. The options were “Number of

employers utilizing subsidies”, “Number of employers attending job

recruitment meetings” and “Number of candidates hired by employers”.

Of them, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies” should be one of

the most important ways to evaluate PES activities considering

individual statistics because PES in Argentina chose “Providing

subsidies” as one service that frequently provided and the most

popular for employers above in 4)’ (Table 6).

Austria and Japan

PES in Austria and Japan chose the same 5 options. The options were

“Number of additional offers”, “Number of offers/work conditions that

have being improved”, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies”,

“Number of employers attending job recruitment meetings” and

“Number of candidates hired by employers”.

Of them, “Number of candidates hired by employers” should be one of

14 PES in the United Kingdom did not answer this section.

89

the most important ways to evaluate PES activities with the view of

individual statistics because PES in both Austria and Japan chose

“Identifying suitable candidates” as one service that frequently

provided and the most popular for employers above in 4)’ (Table 6).

Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose 4 options. The options were “Number of

additional offers”, “Number of candidates hired by employers”,

“Number of businesses started” and “Amount of personnel

management advice”.

Because PES in Bulgaria chose “Identifying suitable candidates”

above in 4)', “Number of candidates hired by employers” should be

one of the most important ways to evaluate PES activities considering

individual statistics.

Germany

PES in Germany chose 4 options. The options were “Number of

additional offers”, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies”, “Number

of candidates hired by employers” and “Number of businesses started”.

Of them, “Number of candidates hired by employers” should be one of

the most important ways to evaluate PES activities with the view of

individual statistics because PES in Germany chose “Identifying

suitable candidates” above in 4)'.

Moldova

PES in Moldova chose 2 options. The options were “Number of

employers attending job recruitment meetings” and “Number of

candidates hired by employers”.

Of 2 options, “Number of candidates hired by employers” should be

one of the most important ways to evaluate PES activities with

considering individual statistics because PES in Moldova chose

“Identifying suitable candidates” above in 4)'.

90

Norway

PES in Norway chose 3 options. The options were ”Number of

employers utilizing subsidies”, “Number of employers attending job

recruitment meetings” and “Other”. The detail of “Other” are described

above in 8-3)’.

Portugal

PES in Portugal chose 6 options, which is the most number of options

chosen by PES in 10 countries. The options were “Number of

additional offers”, “Number of offers/work conditions that have being

improved”, “Number of employers utilizing subsidies”, “Number of

employers attending job recruitment meetings”, “Number of candidates

hired by employers” and “Number of businesses started”.

Figure 27 : The way PES evaluate the PSS activities

(Individual statistics)

Response: PES in 9 countries stated the way of PES evaluation for the PSS activities

considering individual statistics.

n=9

(PES)

91

Table 10 : The way PES evaluate the PSS activities

(Individual statistics)

Number of

additional

offers

Number of

offers/work

conditions that

have being

improved

Number of

employers

utilizing

subsidies

Number of

employers

attending job

recruitment

meetings

Number of

candidates

hired by

employers

Number of

businesses

started

Amount of

personnel

management

advice

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○ ○

02 Armenia ○ ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○ ○

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

25 Moldova ○ ○


32 Portugal ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

43 United Kingdom

8) How do you evaluate the PSS activities you checked in 3) above?(multiple answers supported)

【Individual statistic】

9) The way PES organization strengthen employment services

Needless to say, not only now but also in future, PES organization

should strengthen employment services in order to keep good

relationships with employers. When considering the way to improve or

renovate employment services, the focus points of the PES in each

country are perhaps different.

In this part, all 10 PES answered by multiple choice how PES

organizations strengthen employment services in order to promote a

good relationship with employers. The options are as following items.

By promoting current personal services for employers

By strengthening the network with PES organizations

By strengthening cooperation with local organizations (including

those representing employers)

By strengthening cooperation with the private sector (ex. private

job placement industry)

By developing infrastructure (online services, establishing more

PES offices, etc.)

By enacting new laws/regulations for employers

92

Other


Of all options, "By strengthening the network with PES organizations"

and "By developing infrastructure (online services, establishing more

PES offices, etc.)" was the most popular (Figure28/Table11).

The second most popular options were "By promoting current personal

services for employers" and "By strengthening cooperation with local

organizations (including those representing employers)".

The result about each option is as shown below:

By promoting current personal services for employers

7 PES chose "By promoting current personal services for employers".

The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Japan, Moldova,


By strengthening the network with PES organizations

8 PES chose "By strengthening the network with PES organizations".

The countries were Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Germany, Japan,

Moldova, Norway and Portugal. This option was the one of the most

popular options among 10 PES.

By strengthening cooperation with local organizations

(including those representing employers)

7 PES chose "By strengthening cooperation with local organizations

(including those representing employers)". The countries were

Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Moldova, Norway and Portugal.

By strengthening cooperation with the private sector (ex.

private job placement industry)

5 PES chose "By strengthening cooperation with the private sector (ex.

private job placement industry)". The countries were Austria, Bulgaria,

Germany, Japan and Norway.

93

By developing infrastructure (online services, establishing

more PES offices, etc.)

8 PES chose "By developing infrastructure (online services,

establishing more PES offices, etc.)". The countries were the same of

those chose "By strengthening the network with PES organizations"

By enacting new laws/regulations for employers

2 PES chose "By enacting new laws/regulations for employers". The

countries were Armenia and Moldova.

Other

2 PES in Bulgaria and the United Kingdom chose “Other”. The detailed

descriptions were as follows.

PES in Bulgaria stated opening job meetings (In 2012, 440

places in PES) .

PES in the United Kingdom reported that feedback, evaluation

and sharing best practice ensures that services are improved

and they strive to improve.


9 PES chose 3 to 5 options while 1 PES in the United Kingdom chose

a single option (Table 11). Armenia and Moldova, Austria and Norway

chose the same options. This indicates that PES in these countries

share the same kind of attitude regarding how PES organization

strengthen employment services. The details are as follows.

Argentina

PES in Argentina chose 3 options. The options were "By promoting

current personal services for employers", "By strengthening the

network with PES organizations" and "By developing infrastructure".

Armenia and Moldova

PES in Armenia and Moldova chose the same 5 options. The options

were "By promoting current personal services for employers", "By

strengthening the network with PES organizations", "By strengthening

94

cooperation with local organizations, "By developing infrastructure" and

"By enacting new laws/regulations for employers".

Austria and Norway

PES in Austria and Norway chose the same 5 options. The options

were "By promoting current personal services for employers", "By

strengthening the network with PES organizations", "By strengthening

cooperation with local organizations, "By strengthening cooperation

with the private sector" and "By developing infrastructure" .

Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria chose 3 options. The options were "By strengthening

cooperation with local organizations, "By strengthening cooperation

with the private sector" and "Other". The details of “Other” were

described above in 9-1)’.

Germany

PES in Germany chose 4 options. The options were "By strengthening

the network with PES organizations", "By strengthening cooperation

with local organizations, "By strengthening cooperation with the private

sector" and "By developing infrastructure".

Japan

PES in Japan chose 4 options. The options were "By promoting current

personal services for employers", "By strengthening the network with

PES organizations", "By strengthening cooperation with the private

sector" and "By developing infrastructure".

Portugal

PES in Portugal chose 4 options. The options were "By promoting

current personal services for employers", "By strengthening the

network with PES organizations", "By strengthening cooperation with

local organizations” and "By developing infrastructure".

United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom chose a single option. The option was

95

"Other" . The details of “Other” are described above in 9-1)’.

Figure 28 : The way PES organizations strengthen

employment services

Response: PES in 10 all countries stated the way PES organizations strengthen

employment services.

n=10

(PES)

96

Table 11 : The way PES organizations strengthen

employment services

By promoting

current

personal

services for

employers

By

strengthening

the network

with PES

organizations

By

strengthening

cooperation

with local

organizations

(including

those

representing

employers)

By

strengthening

cooperation

with the private

sector (ex.

private job

placement

industry)

By developing

infrastructure

(online

services,

establishing

more PES

offices, etc.)

By enacting

new

laws/regulation

s for employers

Other

01 Argentina ○ ○ ○

02 Armenia ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

04 Austria ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

08 Bulgaria ○ ○ ○

14 Germany ○ ○ ○ ○

17 Japan ○ ○ ○ ○

25 Moldova ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

30 Norway ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

32 Portugal ○ ○ ○ ○


9) How do PES organizations strengthen employment services in order to promote a goodrelationship with employers?(multiple answers allowed)

4.3.4 Good practices with developing a good relationship

between PES offices and employers

1) Outline

In this part, 9 PES except Portugal answered the question to describe

in detail any particularly beneficial practices for PES offices with

respect to developing a good relationship with employers. The

descriptions include the following categories.

The previous situation before activities commenced

Details of activities

Results of activities

2) Results

9 PES employ good practices and experience to develop relationship

between PES offices and employers. We found there were some

commonly emphasized services.

Networking

PES in Argentina and the United Kingdom explained about

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reinforcing networking within PES organizations/with social partners.

Recruitment events

PES in Armenia, Austria, Japan, Moldova and Norway mentioned

recruitment events such as “Job Fairs”.

Efficient services

PES in Bulgaria and Norway focused on providing efficient services

with comprehensive information such as “one stop shop”.

We also found some unique services:

PES in Austria keep in touch with employers in many ways

including internet services such as “eMAS” and “eJob-Room”;

PES in Japan revised “The service manual for employers” which

describes how to provide employment services to fill vacancies.

The detailed description of each country is as follows.

98

2-1) Argentina

PES in Argentina have already undertaken employment policy based

on cooperation and social dialogue. In particular, PES in Argentina

established the Employment Service Network to develop a series of

local strategies to clarify the needs from both jobseekers side and

production enterprises side at the municipal level.

In addition, PES in Argentina appointed business relationship

officers to make close relationships with employers. They also provide

a special information service for employers to improve their

"employer quality".

The description is as follows.


Government role

Over the last two decades, reforms to public services have become

a concern for governments, social contacts and international

development agencies over the whole world. These reforms

represent a key aspect of the redefinition of the government's

role in a context of globalization and liberalization and responses to

criticism of the efficiency and effectiveness of public services.

However, reforms of public sector management will not achieve the

desired results in terms of national development until they are

adapted and duly applied at a municipal level. Local government

must continue to represent the core of the public sector, i.e. the

level at which critical public services are provided for individuals and

companies, and at which politics meets the public.

99


Long-term policies

Argentina, in terms of employment, creating and executing these

long-term policies required the development of a management

programme, procedures and tools to create a set of activities and

respond to the specific and wide range of situations faced in the

labour market.

In particular, from 2003, the policy model applied at the time

changed direction, while making progress with the creation of long-

term government policies. An employment policy was created

based on cooperation and social dialogue, and applied

nationally, in all regions, covering the problems in each

province and executing the programme defined in each

individual municipality (in a decentralized manner).

The size of the country and the number of actors is fundamental in

this strategy, which provides the background for the development of

networks and interaction between social actors, economic agents

and public and private institutions.

Effects of Employment Service Network

Thanks to the creation of an Employment Services Network, it has

been possible to develop the series of local strategies required for

the implementation of the programme in question, clarifying labour

and production needs. As an integral part of this network, the

Municipal Employment Offices (MEOs) and Units (EUs), were the

institutions chosen to match skilled work and demand in the

productive sector at the municipal level.

The ongoing strengthening of more than 392 of these MEOs

and 149 EUs which now make up the Employment Services

Network contributed significantly to the upgrading of the skills

of unemployed workers over the past ten years. In this respect,

100

Note: (MEOs and EUs)15

15 MEOs are established in municipal or districts with more than 10,000 inhabitants while EUs are with less than 10,000 inhabitants. EUs focus have smaller (1 or 2 persons) teams to implement specific employment programs. Municipals can decide to add more human resources to this team by their own expense.

Response from employers

Looking at the response given to the employers, they are not only

serviced by the MEOs, but they also receive visits from the MEO

technical staff, which is able to supply them with information about

the various services on offer.

This means that it was possible to analyze demand at the local

level and shape the most appropriate strategy to satisfy it. The

main objective of this was to articulate placement activities in a joint

manner, hence improving management on an integrated basis.

Proposition by MEOs

To achieve an efficient match with employers the totality of local

employers must be recognized and identified and the best

information possible on their characteristics as seekers of manpower

must be collated. To achieve this, and in line with their general

objectives, the MEOs have proposed to:

a) develop a policy of employment inclusions via employment

mediation activities with the employer sector;

b) identify possibilities of employers working with micro-enterprises

or freelance workers;

c) promote work training schemes;

it should be mentioned that public policy on labour mediation was in

addition also designed to improve the quality of the employment

services.

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Various action approaches

Given that these proposals took a somewhat flexible form, based on

the suitable positioning of the MEOs in the district, particularly as far

as employers were concerned, the next step was to develop various

action approaches:

a) actions undertaken to establish relationships with employers or

to make contact with them;

b) means made available to devote sufficient attention to possible

employer needs;

c) work mediation actions undertaken so that employment

promotion programme become available as tools;

d) information provided as a service to upgrade contacts and

employment inclusion.

Close relationship with employers

The specific nature of the demands and needs of the employer also

meant that in addition to identifying and contacting them, it is vital to

remain "close" to the employers in an organized way such that

this relationship can be strengthened so that when demand

arises, it will be directed towards the MEOs.

The promotional and systematic characteristics required by the

contact actions to be undertaken so that a real strategic relationship

can be established with employers presuppose a specific and

exclusive role for this purpose: that of the business relationship

officer.

d) seek information to:

appropriately inform and orientate MEO users;

detect needs and plan supply in the way of training /

qualification courses, generating possibilities of future

inclusion (indirect inclusion).

102

Note: the business relationship officer16, a painstaking record of the actions17

16 The main task of business relationship officer is to explain employers how labour intermeditation services work at any given district and all the benefits and facilities they may enjoy by engaging jobseekers through an EUs or MEO.

17 The kind of records how the business relationship officer contact with employers. Employers let the business relationship officers know which actions are taking within the framework of employment programs.

The specific duties of the relationship officer are:

a) to correctly process the employer's mediation requirements;

b) to efficiently supply information on the employment promotion

programme which the MEOs depend on;

c) to correctly inform or direct the employer in keeping with the

specific guide:

d) to the resources and services implemented or operated within the

MEOs:

e) to keep a painstaking record of the actions undertaken in the

means deployed.

It should be pointed out that labour mediation actions undertaken with

employers involve duties which do not fall within the remit of the

relationship officer, such as seeking candidate for positions and

programme, contacting them, pre-selecting them and directing them.

The MEO administrators should appoint technicians to undertake

these duties.

At the present time, in order to tackle the difficulties appearing in some

areas, work is going ahead on the buttressing of the relationship

between the relationship officer and the employer. With this in mind,

discussions are proceeding regarding the content of a future mediation

guide.

A special information service

Another tool to be used in the relationships with employers consists of

organizing the provision of a special information service for

employers which could improve their "employer quality".

103

Result of activities

PES in Argentina reported as follows.

2011 (January - December)

24 new Municipal Employment Offices created.

62 new Employment Units created.

342 Municipal Employment Offices technically assisted

and its civil servants trained.

17 Municipal Employment Offices obtained quality

management certifications.

Amount of people assisted: 637.058

Notified job offers: information unavailable.

Total number of job placements: 40.552

The most important information areas are:

a) contract terms and conditions / consultancy on matters of

standards and the law;

b) employment promotion programme;

c) other information about programme and benefits (staff training,

loans, etc) (payroll regularization programme, etc.).

To supply the employer with information, the MEO can make use of

a section in the resources guide, showing the input of personnel

from other districts in the city and the specific material contained in

this information.

In the wake of the service provision, a final satisfaction

assessment is projected, designed to: check the compliance of the

employer, supply the necessary explanations about possible non-

compliances arising and make commitments to future actions. This

action turns out to be of great importance in the case of dynamic

employers who may become ongoing users of the services of the

MEOs.

104

2012 (January - December)










2013

(January - July)







(January - March)




*Detailed and available Statistical data here portrayed was extracted

from our Nationwide Computerised Employment Intermediation

Platform.

105

2-2) Armenia

PES in Armenia reported through the activities of “Job fairs” and “Job

practice”, employers become more active to keep good relationships

with PES. The description is as follows.




Before implementation of these projects the level of cooperation

between PES and employer was low and PES had difficulties in

building relationships with employers. Now the situation is changed

and employers mostly initiate relationships with PES

themselves.

Job fair

Informing letters, e-mails to employers

Telephone calls

Registration of job vacancies

Provision of marketing materials to employers

Evaluation questionnaire after job fair

Feedback by visits, by telephone calls

Job practice at the employer

Agreement with employer

Candidate referral

mutually beneficial continuous cooperation,

cooperation agreements

106

2-3) Austria

PES in Austria reported positive activities enable PES to get more job

offers to fill vacancies. PES in Austria utilize many ways to keep contact

with employers such as “eMAS”, “eJob-Room” ,advisory service and

so on. The description is as follows.



Note: AMS18

18AMS: The Public Employment Service .

No specific activities but publishing job-offers at the request of

employers.

Overall information about the Labour Market

Job placement; pre-selection of candidates (job-seekers)

Actively offering job-seekers to employers

Job fairs

(employers and job-seekers, direct selection of applicants)

eAMS account for business

(Offers companies the opportunity to use a range of services

independently of PES office hours)

eJob-Room (job exchange platform)

Meetings and company visits to establish personal contact

with employers in order to receive information about the

undertaking, working-conditions and the actual demand for

staff

Counseling on alternative strategies to fill vacancies

Guidance on possible subsidies

Advisory service concerning planned dismissal of staff

Provide employers with information concerning the employment

of foreigners

107


2-4) Bulgaria

PES in Bulgaria reported improving the information environment in

“a one stop shop” which enables them to provide efficient services to

employers as well as jobseekers. The description is as follows.


Note: LLO19, EA20


19LLO: Local Labor Offices 20EA: The Employment Agency

The above mentioned measures affirm and improve relationships

between PES and employers. As a result more job offers are

reported to PES by the employers and therefore it is possible to

fill these vacancies with a heightened number of (registered)

job-seekers.

From 2004 in LLO apply process model of work, the objective is to

facilitate customer access to services and reduce administrative

burden. Improving the information environment; applying

individual approach to service delivery – in terms of both

jobseekers and employers.

Increase customer satisfaction and increase employer engagement

in the EA for the provision of services and achieving the

organizations objectives.

Process model has been improved by implementing customer

service principle “a one stop shop”. This type of service requires a

separation of areas of information.

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2-5) Germany

PES in Germany reported “Short-time work compensation” which

was provided to the unemployed who lost work because of the financial

crisis. Instead of filling the description in the questionnaire, PES in

Germany submitted some materials about “short-time work” (short term

work). Though the results of “Short-time work compensation” were not

mentioned, the gist is as follows.21

21 PES in Germany mentioned only the part of “The previous situation before activities

commenced” and “Details of activities ”

“A one stop shop” was successful in keeping good

relationships with customers of LLO. In a one stop shop

services, employers could make requests and complaints to LLO

through corroborating with an independent team of recruitment

agencies.

Creating a “Front” and “Back” office and provide easy access

for people with disabilities. At moment there are three areas in

“Front” - information space, registration and recruitment. The Back

offices do not serve jobseekers

In 2012, the principle of “a one stop shop” is used in 60 of the

98 labor offices in the country. To realize the model of ‘’a one stop

shop”, all LLO are made to repair and reconstruct their premises.

There is a possibility for self information. Extensions working model

of the “a one stop shop” complements and builds on the basic

process model. Employers are served by separate teams at

recruitment agencies.

109



Note: BA22,

22BA: The German Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit )

Although Germany felt a severe economic slump during the crisis

(the Gross domestic product decreased by 5%), the rise of

unemployment was small.

The crisis mainly affected export-oriented manufacturing firms

(metals, machinery, chemicals) in the South and West of Germany

and temporary work agencies.These firms reacted with high

flexibility, especially concerning working time. And these industries

were intensively using the instrument of short-time work.

In May 2009, the number of people involved in “short-time work”

increased to 1.53 million. In particular:

employees in metal industries were affected the most by short-

time work. A total of 1,117,000 or 35.3 percent of all employees

in the metal industries did short-time work;

employees at big companies were more likely to be affected by

cyclical short-time work;

men were more strongly affected by short-time work than

women.

In order to improve the serious labour situation, PES in Germany

established “Short-time work compensation”.

In order to improve the serious labour situation, PES in Germany

promoted “Short-time work compensation”. Short-time work is not

a new labour market programme, but due to the intensive promotion

of the programme during the economic crisis, PES in Germany

extended its contact to a lot of employers. It is an instrument which

the BA implements in order to assist companies in times of

economic crisis.

110

Short-time work can be described as one main contribution of the BA

to overcome the economic crisis. Employers’ service of BA also

offers information and consulting in implementing short-time work in

companies. During the crisis it led the promotion of the programme

by extensive field service. It also encouraged companies to

implement further training during short-time work.

To accomplish these, it extensively used networks to promote the

programme. The main thing that led to the success of the employers

service`s work was the continued and expanded cooperation with

employers during the crisis.

The purpose is as follows.

Preservation of trained manpower

Preservation of jobs

Maintenance of jobs liable to insurance deductions > avoidance

of unemployment

Adequate compensation for lost wages (Entgeltersatz)

Forms of short-time work compensation are as follows.

Economic short-time work compensation

(for all industrial sectors when loss of work has economic

reasons or is due to inevitable occurrences)

Seasonal – short-time work compensation

(for companies in the building-trades during bad-weather-season

(November to March) when reasons for loss of work are due to

weather, economic condition or inevitable occurrences)

Transfer – short-time work compensation

(for operational reorganisations – reductions in staff – not for

temporary loss of work)

111

2-6) Japan

PES in Japan reported remaking “The service manual for employers”.

This manual is focused on how to fill more vacancies to satisfy

employers. Though PES in Japan have yet get drastic results about

filling vacancies, activities based on this manual is meaningful to

acquire confidence from employers.


Labour market situation

Right after the financial crisis in 2009, all PES offices in Japan have

attempted to develop new offers regardless of working conditions.

Thanks to this concentrated activity, PES offices could keep a

constant number of job offers.

As severe conditions in the labour market have improved gradually,

the number of jobseekers (visitors of PES offices) has slightly been

decreasing while the number of job offers has been still increasing.

As a result, PES offices were more difficult to fill vacancies

because of serious mismatching between employers and

jobseekers. PES in Japan found themselves under deteriorating

situation with a decreasing job openings to filling rate.

*Number of job offers (million):

6.4 (2010FY) →7.2 (2011FY) →8.0 (2012FY)

*Number of jobseekers (million):

7.5 (2010FY) →7.2 (2011FY) →6.7 (2012FY)

*Job openings to filing rate (job openings filled/job openings):

30.0%(2010FY) →27.0%(2011FY) →24.3% (2012FY)

Services focused on filling vacancies

While PES in Japan originally had provided many kinds of services

for employers, PES in Japan have more focused on how to

satisfy employers by filling vacancies since 2011.

112


In order to fill vacancies to satisfy employers, Ministry of Health,

Labour and Welfare (MHLW) revised “The service manual for

employers” twice; in 2011 and 2013.

The directions in the manual are employed at all PES offices in

Japan. The new manual is based on three concepts; “Active

Matching”, “Promoting job offers according to the labour

market” and “Reinforcing services to satisfy employers”. The

details are as follows.

Basic services are as follows.

Promote job offers

Develop new job offers by visiting employer’s office

Follow-up services;

Give directions and advice to improve their employment

conditions to fill vacancies

Provide subsidies

Promote job interview meetings

Introduce suitable candidates

Advertise services by internet (“Hello-work Internet Services”)

Services focused on filling vacancies are as follows.

Active matching

Promoting job offers according to the labour market conditions

Reinforcing services to satisfy employers

1. “Active Matching”

1) Improving application forms

In order to decrease mismatching between employers and

jobseekers, detailed and precise information on both job

offers and jobseekers is definitely needed.

113

Since some of the employers and jobseekers tend not to fill out

the application form completely because they lack descriptive

skills, their poor information is not found when searching by

internet or intranet system.

Even though information on job offer cards are seen by

jobseekers, they could not understand details about job,

such as working tasks, conditions, qualifications and so on.

In the end, vague information prevents jobseekers from

applying for the job offers.

As for information about jobseekers, the situation is the

same. If the information on job application cards is not

enough to attract employers’ notice, employers don’t check

the further information of jobseekers as appropriate

candidates.

To solve this technical and perspective mismatching, PES office

staff reinforced their advice to both employers and

jobseekers to give the detail of information on application

form from objective evidence and their experience.

For instance, from basic data analysis, PES in Japan found

that the job offer cards which describe the blank of “working

task” with 80 words (4 lines) have the highest chance to fill

vacancies because 80 words is neither too long nor too

short for jobseekers to understand what they should do in

the job. Therefore, when giving advice to employers, PES

office staff encourage them to describe the working task

about 80 words to fill vacancies.

The more information about job offers and jobseekers improves,

the more easily users can seek appropriate job offers and

jobseekers. This activity is especially efficient for “free

words searching” on internet or intranet searching system

by jobseekers, employers and PES office staff.

114

2) Introducing appropriate candidates for employers

As one of the basic services, PES in Japan make it a rule to

introduce appropriate candidates for employers if employers

wish so.

In particular, judging from the current labor market, PES offices

are reinforcing this service in specific industry; construction,

social welfare and medical and nursing industry, which are

always suffering from a shortage of employees.

3) Collecting the detail of information about working offices

Considering the fact that almost all employers that submit job

offers to PES offices are small and medium sized enterprises,

the employers cannot afford to promote their business activities

enough for jobseekers to apply for them. Some of them don’t

have their own home pages or recruitment pamphlets to show

what kind of employees are working in the office, what the

atmosphere like in the office and so on.

Then, PES in Japan decided to collect additional information

besides information on job offer cards. In order to meet to job

seekers’ needs, PES offices mainly collect visual or oral

information about working circumstances. PES offices make it a

rule that:

they ask the employers for providing some visual materials

such as an in-house magazine, their products pamphlets.

they visit the employers’ office to take photos of offices

buildings, employers and so on. These photos are shown

to job seekers with job offer cards.

4) Reinforcing job matching meetings

Originally, each PES office set job matching meetings as one of

their routine tasks. The purpose of the meeting was to identify

why the offer unfilled were not filled and discussing the way to fill

them.

115

However, in spite of great efforts some PES offices staff, some

PES offices have yet to establish how they keep holding job

matching meetings, because they could not get good results to

fill vacancies regardless of discussion.

To solve this problem and filling vacancies in the most efficient

ways, MHLW illustrated distinct behavior to keep job

matching meetings in “The service manual for employers”.

The directions were as follows.

All PES offices should hold job matching meetings

constantly (at least once a week).

The attendants are composed of staff of both employers’

service division and job placement division.

In the meeting, the attendants should check the situation of

employers who are engaging in individual support services to

fill vacancies.

The attendants should report whether the job offers that

were submitted by the clients (employers in individual

services) were filled or unfilled.

If they were not filled, all attendants discussed for the reason

for being unfilled.

Making “The Follow-up Plan” to fill vacancies by visiting

employers’ offices.

Identifying appropriate candidates among jobseekers for

unfilled offers and sharing information about job seekers

who are taking person-to-person counseling.

Discussing how to utilize additional information about

employers

Review “the promising offer criteria” that is used to

determine whether PES office staff should provide specific

services for employers to fill vacancies or not.

116

2 . Promoting job offers according to the labour market

1) Policy shifting to obtain job offers with good conditions

In order to stimulate the filling of vacancies, instead of accepting

a number of job offers regardless of their working conditions,

MHLW directed almost all PES offices to promote and develop

offers actively which;

are full time job;

many jobseekers seem to apply for.

2) Improving job offers conditions

PES offices also decided to focus on improving job offers

conditions, especially those were not filled after three months.

If the working conditions are the same as the previous offers, it is

led likely to be filled in the next there-month opening. Therefore,

PES offices decided to follow the following procedures to improve

job offers conditions.

PES offices staff advise the employers to improve salary.

(However, because of their own firm rules, it seems difficult

for employers to raise salary.)

Second, at least, in order to get more applications from many

jobseekers, PES office staff direct employers to improve the

description of working tasks on the job offer card so that

they can attract more jobseekers.

3 . Reinforcing services to satisfy employers

1) Filling vacancies at an early stage

Though “Introducing suitable candidates” was one of the original

services for employers, it has not been regarded as an effective

service to satisfy employers. PES office staff chose appropriate

candidates among many jobseekers with a lot of efforts after one

to three weeks when they accept the offers and check no

jobseekers apply for the offer. However, some candidates

refused to apply for the offer, and some employers also decided

not to employ them after job interviews.

117


To prevent this mismatching, PES office staff make it a custom

to provide “Introducing suitable candidates services” at a

very early stage. As soon as they accept job offers from

employers, PES offices staff introduce appropriate candidates

from jobseekers who take individual counseling.

Since the new activities started in August 2013 based on “The

service manual for employers”, PES of Japan has not yet gotten

outcome results such as increasing the number of job offers filled.

However, PES office staff realized that they surely improved each

activity.

More efficient advice they could give to employers how to

make attractive job offer cards for jobseekers.

Keeping in touch with employers for a long time allows PES

office staff to accurately judge what services each

employer really needs.

Some PES office were successful in filling vacancies efficiently

by allocating job offers to each staff to take care of them.

On the other hand, some PES office staff reported the difficulty of

new activities, because they could improve each activity yet they

could not understand clearly the connection between their activities

and outcome results; PES in Japan have not proved that the result

they got in each activity really increase the total number of job offers

filled or improve their local labour market.

In order to check whether the new activities should work well or not:

MHLW frequently holds meetings with direct managers of each

PES organization at the prefectural level;

118

2-7) Moldova

PES in Moldova reported through the activities of “Job Fairs”,

employers became more likely to fill the vacancies. The description is

as follows.


Details of Activities


Job recruitment meetings (Job Fairs)

Job Fairs invited employers who offer the most attractive jobs

offers. If one / two or more employers declare more than 5 jobs and

urgently needs staff, there are organized job fairs or small fairs at

the company address, in the agency or in a rent room.

The steps in organizing a Job Fair are:

1) determining the date;

2) appointment of persons responsible for organizing the Job Fair.

3) Establish the number of guests (employers, non-governmental

organizations, trade unions, State labor inspectorate and other

organizations such as mass media etc.).

Job Fairs are the best method of recruitment, after which the

employers can fill the vacancies and accumulate some more

resumes. Thus, in a relatively short period of time, the employers

can discuss face to face with a significant number of potential

employees.

MHLW staff visit PES offices in person to discuss what PES

office staff think about new activities;

MHLW make them report how each PES office improves their

activities through interviews during next summer.

119

2-8) Norway

PES in Norway reported two activities; providing comprehensive

information (including subsidies) and organizing recruitment events.

Owing to these activities, PES could acquire positive reactions from

employers. The description is as follows.


Note: Arbetsförmedlingen23

Details of Activities

23 PES in Sweden(http://www.arbetsformedlingen.se/)

1. There was a low awareness among employers about subsidized

employment.

In order to increase the possibility for jobseekers furthest away

from the labour market to gain employment, there was a call for

more knowledge and more basic information for employers about

the possibilities to receive different forms of financial support.

There were difficulties for employers to easily work out how

much financial support they could actually receive from

different types of subsidied employment.

2. There was a low awareness among employers about the

possibility for Arbetsförmedlingen to organize recruitment

events at their premises. The majority of the employers who

took advantage of this possibility were content.

1. There has been an initiative, aiming to inform Sweden’s

employers about Arbetsförmedlingen’s service, primarily forms of

subsidized employment.

The campaign is based on the local engagement to carry out

activities aimed at employers, as well as a parallel national

campaign to channel the information via a national tour with

information for employers. To support this information campaign,

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1. There have been positive reactions from employers who find

that the online application and the information are easy to

comprehend and good. It is easy to grasp and use for

employment purposes.

There have also been positive reactions for employment

officers who appreciate the support when dealing with

employers. The incentive has also led to more contacts with

employers and several visits to employers at several locations in

Sweden.

2. Not yet evaluated.

a comprehensive information and support package for

working with employers was developed and delivered to all

local employment offices.

Furthermore, an application for Arbetsförmedlingen’s

website was developed, in order to facilitate for employers to

easily find information on the different types of subsidied

employment. On the website the employer can work out

concretely how much a form of subsidised employment would

cost and what options are available for different types of

financial support.

2. As a result of information on the website and contacts with

employers in their daily work, more employers have become

aware of the possibility to organize recruitment events at

Arbetsförmedlingen’s premises.

On the website this opportunity has been presented and

highlighted in a considerably clearer way than previously.

Furthermore, in the information material, recruitment events were

highlighted as a good option.

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2-9) United Kingdom

PES in the United Kingdom reported about “Local Employment

Partnership”. This effective communication enables both Jobcentre

Plus and employers to establish and be clear about employers’ needs.

Instead of filling the description in the questionnaire, PES in the United

Kingdom provided research report “Employer Engagement and

Jobcenter Plus” by Anny Bells, Maria Sigala and Sara Dewson

(Depertment for Work and Pensions). The gist is as follows.


Note: Jobcentre Plus24

Details of Activities and Result of activities

24 Jobcentre Plus: PES in the United Kingdom.

Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) introduced in 2007 aimed

to increase the propensity of employers to recruit disadvantaged

people into work for six months or more, and a formal commitment to

achieve 250,000 job outcomes through LEPs by the end of 2010.

However, as labour market conditions deteriorated, Jobcentre Plus

made a further commitment to achieve 93,000 job outcomes for the

newly unemployed and 107,000 job outcomes for disadvantaged

customer group during the 2009/10 operational year.

LEPs took part in a wider programme of assists designed to improve

the functioning of the labour market by connecting jobless individuals

with vacancies, tackling barriers to employment and enhancing the

effectiveness of the job matching processes of Jobcentre Plus and its

partners. LEPs finished in summer 2010.

Organisation of Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs)

LEPs were promoted by Jobcentre Plus staff with a more strategic

remit to have strengthened their links with partners (mainly training

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Employer engagement

The main reason offered by employers for engaging with LEPs

was the business needed fill vacancies.

Employers reported:

the help available from Jobcentre Plus to assist with the

recruitment process was an important driver;

the most effective way to market LEPs was by word-of-

mouth and direct contact with Jobcentre Plus staff;

the importance of having a single point of contact at Jobcentre

Plus, which helped them to navigate a large and often confusing

organization;

the quality of candidates for LEP vacancies was improving

as they worked more closely with Jobcentre Plus to

improve screening and matching procedures and PET

provision. However, in some areas employers were concerned

about the variable quality of candidates, believing some

Jobcentre Plus staff were referring the wrong people for

interviews.

providers). LEPs had seldom resulted in the formation of new

partnerships.

Most training providers engaged in LEP and Pre-Employment

Training (PET), and many employers signing up to LEPs were

already working with Jobcentre Plus.

One of the main advantages of LEPs was the way they

promoted longer-term relationships between Jobcentre Plus

and employers, which allowed a much better understanding of their

needs. Most Jobcentre Plus staff reported that LEPs had improved

both the quality and professionalism of the service they offered to

employers.

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Ⅴ Conclusion

Global perception in the labour market

We found a lot of similarities in the results of “The International Comparative

Research Project”. PES always try to keep in touch with employers,

wondering how to satisfy employers.

All PES in this research:

acquired some pieces of basic data (number of job openings, job finders

and filled job offers) by any means;

were trying to manage job offers by setting an expiry date or taking into

consideration each employer’s decision;

reported PES organizations have strengthened their services for

employers compared to the past (over the last 10 years);

had “Personal Support Services for recruiting/identifying suitable

candidates for vacancies (PSS) ” that were available as nationwide at

PES offices;

evaluated the PSS activities by checking whether employers are

satisfied with PSS activities or not and several PES emphasis PSS with

the view of providing networking, recruitment events and efficient

services for employers.

At the same time, the results show that PES have made progress in

developing the relationship with employers by their own thinking and

unique methods according to their employers’ needs.

It is also heartening to see that PES offices made efforts to overcome

common challenges such as the global financial crisis.

Then, how to solve the problems around the corner?

Since the global problems have great effects on their local labor market, in

some parts, PES in each country can employ the similar services of PES in

other countries. However, in some cases, a local PES office cannot adopt

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these common solutions due to superficial problems in the labour market as

well as deeper issues connected to local specific employment customs and

cultures. Therefore, PES in each county or in the each local market needs

to find solutions by their own initiatives. That is why PES need Social

Dialogue to keep a good relationship with employers.

In conclusion, it is PES that have main responsibility to adjust and improve

local labour market by keeping good relationships with employers through

Social Dialogue.

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Ⅵ Reference

ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=964&intPageId=1254&langId=en

ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=991&langId=en

Daniel H. Pink (2002) : Free Agent Nation

Department for Work and Pensions , Research Report No 742 (2011) :

Employment engagement and Jobcenter Plus (Anne Bellis, Maria Sigala

and Sara Dewson)

The International Labour Organization (2013) : GLOBAL EMPOYMENT

TRENDS 2013

Lynda Gratton (2011): THE SHIFT; The future of work is already here

World Association of Public Employment Services, Association Mondiale

des Services d’Emplos Publics, and Asociation Mundial de los Servicios

Publicos de Empleo (2010) : The annual report 2010

World Association of Public Employment Services, Association Mondiale

des Services d’Emplos Publics, and Asociation Mundial de los Servicios

Publicos de Empleo (2011) : Public Employment Services in the World –

Mission, Structure and Activities

www.bmask.gv.at/siteEN/_Labour/Labour_Market/

www.directemployers.org/2013/04/23/outplacement-services-survey

www.g20.org/events_sherpas_track/

www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-henry/hiring_b_3931489.html

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www.sigmaxyz.com/

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Ⅶ Appendix -The form of Questionnaire-

the relationship between pes and employers as social...

Documents