We develop and empirically test a labor market model with Public Employment Agencies (PEA) in order to understand why not all vacancies use the costless services provided by the PEA. We show that both the search market and the PEA can be active in equilibrium. In such an equilibrium, workers...

Using a unique vacancy dataset, we find that the Public Employment Agency (PEA) distributes workers more evenly across vacancies than the private market. We investigate the implications of having such a market place by using a directed search model, where firms can search via the PEA or the...

In many countries Public Employment Agencies (PEA) offer intermediation services to help as many people as possible to find work by bringing together supply and demand. Using a unique vacancy-level data-set on the number of applicants, we find positive effects of the intermediation services on...