Activation Strategies and Performance of Employment Services: Joint SZW and OECD Seminar (The Hague, Netherlands, 29 March 2006)

Activation Strategies and Performance of Employment Services

Joint Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) and OECD Seminar,
The Hague, Netherlands, 29 March 2006

The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) and the OECD Employment,
Labour and Social Affairs Directorate organised a seminar on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
on Activation Strategies and Performance of Employment Services, with particular consideration
of policies in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The purpose of the seminar was to give both Dutch and international experts, practitioners and policymakers the opportunity to learn about the different aspects of employment and reintegration services in these three countries. About 70 Dutch and over a dozen international representatives participated in the event. Readers find attached the seminar programme and the revised OECD report on “Activation Strategies and the Performance of Employment Services in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom” that served as background for discussion and was subsequently published as OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Paper No. 42. The three main sections of the report discuss

1. activation policies addressing the registered unemployed;
2. strategies for applying activation policies to “inactive groups”;
3. and design features of market and contractual arrangements in employment services.