For selected target groups, such as unemployed and disadvantaged youth, Christoph Ehlert demonstrates that flexible and well-targeted programmes significantly improve employment chances. To be effective, these programmes must combine individual coaching, classroom training and temporary work....

Our paper analyzes the role of public employment agencies in job matching, in particular the effects of the restructuring of the Federal Employment Agency in Germany (Hartz III labor market reform) for aggregate matching and unemployment. Based on two microeconomic datasets, we show that the...

We analyze the consequences of counseling provided to job seekers in a standard job search and matching model. It turns out that neglecting equilibrium effects induced by counseling can lead to wrong conclusions. In particular, counseling can increase steady state unemployment although counseled...