Public Intensive Job Search Counseling
Long-term unemployment creates severe individual socio-economic costs like poverty, skill degradation, and narrowed social networks. Intensive public job search counseling aims to accelerate job placement for individuals at risk of long-term unemployment through low caseworker-to-client ratios.
Picture this
Think of a personal fitness trainer at a public community gym who works with a small group of 40 people instead of a crowded class of 120. The trainer meets with each person every single week to give direct advice, refine their exercise routine, and keep them accountable until they achieve their fitness targets.
What the evidence says
Assigned personal advisors to maximum 40 clients for weekly meetings over six months at an estimated cost of €657 per client. Increased exit rate to employment by 50% within six months (a 10.2 percentage point increase from a baseline of 20.7%). Increased likelihood of finding a job lasting at least six months by 34% (a 7.2 percentage point increase). Reduced net costs to government per job seeker slightly, though the cost difference was not statistically significant.
- Who
- Nearly 44,000 job seekers entering unemployment entitled to at least one year of unemployment benefits across 216 local public employment offices in four French administrative regions [3].
- How
- Randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted from January to December 2007 tracking participants via administrative and survey data over a 12-month period across public intensive, private intensive, and standard public comparison groups [3, 5].
What to do
Cap public employment caseworker caseloads at 40 clients and implement mandatory weekly individual job search meetings.
From the source
"Within six months, the public intensive program increased the probability of exiting unemployment and finding a job by 50 percent (a 10.2 percentage point increase from a base of 20.7 percent)."
public-or-private-job-counseling-in-france_0.pdf