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The Dilemma of Delegating Search: Budgeting in Public Employment Service

Author

Listed:
  • John T. Addison

    (Department of Economics, University of South Carolina, Moore School of Business, Columbia, SC, USA; Chemnitz Institute of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany)

  • Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher

    (Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany)

  • Thomas Kuhn

    (Department of Economics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany)

Abstract

The Recent German research has suggested that extending the number of caseworkers may have a very positive effect on PES performance. The present paper accepts this key insight but argues that there are other factors that may independently drive outcomes and in particular local agents’ discretion. That is, it focuses on the delegation problem between the central office and the local job center ‘matchmakers.’ Because their (search) effort in contacting employers and collecting data is not verifiable by the central authority, a typical moral hazard problem can arise. To overcome the delegation problem and provide high-powered incentives for increased levels of search effort on the part of job centers, we propose output-related schemes that assign greater staff capacity to agencies achieving high strike rates.

Suggested Citation

  • John T. Addison & Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher & Thomas Kuhn, 2011. "The Dilemma of Delegating Search: Budgeting in Public Employment Service," Professional Reports 02_11, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    • Handle: RePEc:rim:rimpre:02_11
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John T. Addison & Pedro Portugal, 2002. "Job search methods and outcomes," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 54(3), pages 505-533, July.
    2. George Sheldon, 2003. "The Efficiency of Public Employment Services: A Nonparametric Matching Function Analysis for Switzerland," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 49-70, July.
    3. Winterhager, Henrik & Heinze, Anja & Spermann, Alexander, 2006. "Deregulating job placement in Europe: A microeconometric evaluation of an innovative voucher scheme in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 505-517, August.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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