"This paper provides an overview of the sequential shift towards activating labour market and social policy in Germany. It not only shows the changes in the instruments of active and passives labour market policies but also analyzes the implications of this change for the political economy, the...

"The current low participation rate of low-skilled workers in vocational re-training activities as well as the relatively high share of youth without vocational qualification are major challenges for German labour market policies. Recently implemented programs by the Federal Employment Service...

"Employment protection legislation, unemployment benefits and active labor market policy are Janus-faced institutions. On the one hand they are devices of insurance against labor market risk that provide income and employment security. On the other hand they influence the capacities of labor...

"Institutional changes in the governance of employment services were the starting point of comprehensive labour market and social policy reforms - the so-called Hartz-reforms (2003-2005) - in Germany. Particularly with the Hartz IV reform in 2005 Germany's status- and occupation-oriented social...

"Other countries have already privatised their job placement systems to a greater extent than Germany has. This concerns such different welfare state regimes as Australia and Great Britain on the one hand and the Netherlands - and more recently also Belgium and Denmark - on the other hand....