Introduction

Recently, the delivery of reintegration services to the unemployed and the disabled in the Netherlands – formerly a public task – has largely been privatised. The government still funds these services, but implementation is left to private agencies that have to compete for the contracts. Considerable improvements in these services in terms of both effectiveness and efficiency are expected from the privatisation. The purpose of this chapter is to give a description and an evaluation of the initial period following the introduction of the new system. Before we do that, we first discuss a number of points that may not be familiar to readers who are not specialists in labour market issues. Thus, why does the government provide or at least subsidise reintegration services? What do we understand by reintegration services?

Reintegration services are a particular form of employment service. The general aim of employment services is to help unemployed people find a job and employers fill their vacancies. There are several reasons why jobseekers and vacancies do not instantly match. An obvious reason is that both jobseekers and firms have imperfect information. However, we can also observe that some unemployed or disabled people have more fundamental problems in finding a job. They may lack a good strategy in searching for work or a network to help find them a job, or their skills may be insufficient.

In most European countries the provision of employment services is largely a public task.