Public-private partnerships for the unemployed

Under new dimensions of individualisation, decentralisation and particularly marketisation, new forms of public-private partnerships between the actors involved in the employment services for the unemployed have emerged. This is because for-profit providers have now entered the arena of welfare to work. The assumption behind these public-private arrangements is that the marketisation of public service delivery will lead to more flexible, responsive and innovative outcomes. Focusing on the implementation of back-to-work services for the unemployed for the UK, the Netherlands and Australia as forerunners of this development, this article sketches several theoretical backgrounds and conditions for effective and efficient back-to-work services and gives an insight to the struggles countries face in controlling recalcitrant practice, their policy lessons and the outcomes of these struggles so far.