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How effective are state employment agencies? Job centre use and job matching in Britain

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Author Info
Paul Gregg
Jonathan Wadsworth

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Abstract

State sponsored employment agencies are an important source of job matching. This study tracks job centre use in Britain over the previous decade. Use of the service has followed a secular decline amongst employed job seekers and, as with aggregate search effort, is highly counter-cyclical amongst the unemployed. The unemployed pattern can be attributed to their changing composition over the period 1984-90, including counter-cyclical falls in duration of job search and likelihood of being laid off. The rise in job centre use after 1990 is only partially attributable to increased duration of search. This study reveals evidence of increasing returns of job search effort. The more search methods a job seeker utilises the greater the chance of securing employment. The results suggest that job centres do significantly increase the rate of job matching in Britain and that the greatest beneficial impact is amongst those, the low skilled and the long-term unemployed who are more disadvantaged in the labour market. State intervention to reduce the costs of search would encourage more widespread use of alternative methods of job search.

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Paper provided by National Institute of Economic and Social Research in its series NIESR Discussion Papers with number 69.

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  2. Battu, Harminder & Seaman, Paul & Zenou, Yves, 2004. "Job Contact Networks and the Ethnic Minorities," Working Paper Series 628, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Frijters, Paul & Shields, Michael A. & Wheatley Price, Stephen, 2003. "Immigrant Job Search in the UK: Evidence from Panel Data," IZA Discussion Papers 902, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  4. Dan Anderberg and Fredrik Andersson, 2003. "Stratification, Social Networks in the Labour Market and Intergenerational Mobility," Royal Holloway, University of London: Discussion Papers in Economics 03/8, Department of Economics, Royal Holloway University of London, revised Dec 2003. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Smirnova, Natalia V., 2003. "Job search behavior of unemployed in Russia," BOFIT Discussion Papers 13/2003, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Wahba, Jackline & Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Density, Social Networks and Job Search Methods: Theory and Application to Egypt," CEPR Discussion Papers 3967, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Mosca, Michele & Pastore, Francesco, 2008. "Wage Effects of Recruitment Methods: The Case of the Italian Social Service Sector," IZA Discussion Papers 3422, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  9. René Böheim & Mark P Taylor, 2002. "Job search methods, intensity and success in Britain in the 1990s," Economics working papers 2002-06, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. [Downloadable!]
  10. Simon Burgess & Stefan Profit, 2001. "Externalities in the Matching of Workers and Firms in Britain," CEP Discussion Papers 0490, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Martin Kahanec & Mariapia Mendola, 2007. "Social Determinants of Labor Market Status of Ethnic Minorities in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 3146, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  12. Denis Fougère & Jacqueline Pradel & Muriel Roger, 2005. "Does Job-Search Assistance Affect Search Effort and Outcomes? A Microeconometric Analysis of Public versus Private Search Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 1825, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  13. Francois Fontaine, 2003. "Do workers really benefit from their social networks?," Macroeconomics 0311002, EconWPA, revised 07 Jan 2004. [Downloadable!]
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  14. Patacchini, Eleonora & Zenou, Yves, 2008. "Ethnic Networks and Employment Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 3331, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  15. Andrea Weber & Helmut Mahringer, 2006. "Choice and Success of Job Search Methods," IZA Discussion Papers 1939, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  16. Addison, John T. & Portugal, Pedro, 1998. "Job Search Methods and Outcomes," ZEW Discussion Papers 98-41, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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