IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jproda/v20y2003i1p49-70.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Efficiency of Public Employment Services: A Nonparametric Matching Function Analysis for Switzerland

Author

Listed:
  • George Sheldon

Abstract

This study develops a methodology for assessing the efficiency of job placement services based on the matching function. Unlike most previous estimates of the matching function, based on aggregate time-series regressions and parametric functional forms, this study employs micro cross-sectional data and uses nonparametric frontier estimation techniques (DEA). The methodology is applied to 126 regional placement offices operating in Switzerland in the period 1997–98. In contrast to time-series regressions, our results point to sizable increasing returns-to-scale. Our findings also suggest that counseling is more effective than other active labor market measures or disciplining actions in increasing matching efficiency. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003

Suggested Citation

  • George Sheldon, 2003. "The Efficiency of Public Employment Services: A Nonparametric Matching Function Analysis for Switzerland," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 49-70, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:20:y:2003:i:1:p:49-70
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1024870108435
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1023/A:1024870108435
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1023/A:1024870108435?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McFadden, Daniel, 1978. "Cost, Revenue, and Profit Functions," Histoy of Economic Thought Chapters, in: Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.),Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications, volume 1, chapter 1, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought.
    2. repec:bla:scandj:v:87:y:1985:i:4:p:594-604 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Christopher A. Pissarides & Barbara Petrongolo, 2001. "Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 390-431, June.
    4. Per Andersen & Niels Christian Petersen, 1993. "A Procedure for Ranking Efficient Units in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(10), pages 1261-1264, October.
    5. Grosskopf, S, 1986. "The Role of the Reference Technology in Measuring Productive Efficiency," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 499-513, June.
    6. Rafael Lalive & Jan C. van Ours & Josef Zweimueller, "undated". "The Impact of Active Labor Market Programs on the Duration of Unemployment," IEW - Working Papers 041, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    7. Richard Jackman & Christopher A. Pissarides & S Savouri, 1990. "Labour Market Policies and Unemployment in the OECD," CEP Discussion Papers dp0011, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    8. Lalive, R. & van Ours, J.C. & Zweimüller, J., 2000. "The Impact of Active Labor Market Programs and Benefit Entitlement Rules on the Duration of Unemployment," Discussion Paper 2000-41, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    9. Fuss, Melvyn & McFadden, Daniel (ed.), 1978. "Production Economics: A Dual Approach to Theory and Applications," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780444850133.
    10. Diamond, Peter A, 1982. "Aggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 881-894, October.
    11. Henry Tulkens, 2006. "On FDH Efficiency Analysis: Some Methodological Issues and Applications to Retail Banking, Courts and Urban Transit," Springer Books, in: Parkash Chander & Jacques Drèze & C. Knox Lovell & Jack Mintz (ed.), Public goods, environmental externalities and fiscal competition, chapter 0, pages 311-342, Springer.
    12. Banker, Rajiv D., 1984. "Estimating most productive scale size using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 35-44, July.
    13. Edward S. Cavin & Frank P. Stafford, 1985. "Efficient Provision of Employment Service Outputs: A Production Frontier Analysis," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(4), pages 484-503.
    14. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 1993. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072181.
    15. Warren, Ronald S, Jr, 1991. "The Estimation of Frictional Unemployment: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 373-377, May.
    16. Oliver Jean Blanchard & Peter Diamond, 1989. "The Beveridge Curve," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 20(1), pages 1-76.
    17. Robert G. Fay, 1996. "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Active Labour Market Policies: Evidence from Programme Evaluations in OECD Countries," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 18, OECD Publishing.
    18. Robert G. Fay, 1997. "Making the Public Employment Service More Effective through the Introduction of Market Signals," OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Occasional Papers 25, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Suárez Cano, Patricia & Mayor Fernández, Matías & Cueto Iglesias, Begoña, 2011. "How important is access to employment offices in Spain? An urban and non-urban perspective," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 21, pages 119-140.
    2. Stefanie Behncke & Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2008. "A Caseworker Like Me - Does The Similarity Between Unemployed And Caseworker Increase Job Placements?," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2008 2008-08, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    3. Dario Sciulli & António Gomes de Menezes, 2018. "The performance of Portuguese job-centers," EKONOMIAZ. Revista vasca de Economía, Gobierno Vasco / Eusko Jaurlaritza / Basque Government, vol. 93(01), pages 108-133.
    4. Vassiliev, Anatoli & Ferro Luzzi, Giovanni & Fluckiger, Yves & Ramirez, Jose V., 2006. "Unemployment and employment offices' efficiency: What can be done?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 169-186, September.
    5. John T. Addison & Martin Altemeyer-Bartscher & Thomas Kuhn, 2011. "The Dilemma of Delegating Search: Budgeting in Public Employment Service," Professional Reports 02_11, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    6. Behncke, Stefanie & Frölich, Markus & Lechner, Michael, 2007. "Public Employment Services and Employers: How Important Are Networks with Firms?," IZA Discussion Papers 3005, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Stefanie Behncke & Markus Frölich & Michael Lechner, 2010. "Unemployed and their caseworkers: should they be friends or foes?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(1), pages 67-92, January.
    8. Baños, José F. & Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana & Suárez, Patricia, 2016. "Matching frontiers: A random parameter model approach," Efficiency Series Papers 2016/07, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    9. Althin, Rikard & Behrenz, Lars & Färe, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Mellander, Erik, 2010. "Swedish employment offices: A new model for evaluating effectiveness," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1535-1544, December.
    10. Suárez Cano, Patricia & Mayor Fernández, Matías & Cueto Iglesias, Begoña, 2012. "La eficiencia de los servicios públicos de empleo en España en un escenario descentralizado: un análisis desde la perspectiva de la oferta/Efficiency of Public Employment Services in Spain in a Decent," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 30, pages 757(22)-757, Agosto.
    11. Fitzenberger, Bernd & Furdas, Marina, 2012. "Benchmarking Regions: Estimating the Counterfactual Distribution of Labor Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 6465, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Patricia Suárez & Matías Mayor & Begoña Cueto, 2012. "The accessibility to employment offices in the Spanish labour market," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 823-848, November.
    13. Galanopoulos, Konstantinos & Aggelopoulos, Stamatis & Kamenidou, Irene & Mattas, Konstadinos, 2006. "Assessing the effects of managerial and production practices on the efficiency of commercial pig farming," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 88(2-3), pages 125-141, June.
    14. Marwa Sahnoun & Chokri Abdennadher, 2018. "The assessment of active labor market policies: evidence from OECD countries," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(2), pages 257-283, August.
    15. Michael Weber, 2016. "The short-run and long-run effects of decentralizing public employment services," ifo Working Paper Series 209, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    16. Ewa Cichowicz & Ewa Rollnik-Sadowska & Monika Dędys & Maria Ekes, 2021. "The DEA Method and Its Application Possibilities for Measuring Efficiency in the Public Sector—The Case of Local Public Employment Services," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-13, May.
    17. Addison, John T. & Altemeyer-Bartscher, Martin & Kuhn, Thomas, 2010. "The Dilemma of Delegating Search: Budgeting in Public Employment Services," IZA Discussion Papers 5170, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Salwaty Jamaludin & Kamarul Hidayah Abdul Hamid & Nazurah Abdul Malek & Muhammad Zaheer Khan & Sharul Shahida Shakrein Safian & Norhasimah Shaharuddin, 2023. "A Study on the Matching Efficiency of Malaysia's Labor Market during the Covid-19 Pandemic using the DEA-Malmquist Productivity Index," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(4), pages 1-11.
    19. Dyballa, Katharina & Kraft, Kornelius, 2020. "(In)Efficiency of Employment Offices: A Study on Welfare Benefits Determination – Is There a Trade-off between Time Saving Case Management and Quality of Decisions?," IZA Discussion Papers 13399, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. José V. Ramirez & Anatoli Vassiliev, 2007. "An Efficiency Comparison of Regional Employment Offices Operating under Different Exogenous Conditions," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 143(I), pages 31-48, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. R H Green & W D Cook, 2004. "A free coordination hull approach to efficiency measurement," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 55(10), pages 1059-1063, October.
    2. Aomar Ibourk & Bénédicte Maillard & Sergio Perelman & Henri Sneessens, 2004. "Aggregate Matching Efficiency: A Stochastic Production Frontier Approach, France 1990–1994," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Coles, Melvyn G & Petrongolo, Barbara, 2002. "A Test Between Unemployment Theories Using Matching Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 3241, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Vassiliev, Anatoli & Ferro Luzzi, Giovanni & Fluckiger, Yves & Ramirez, Jose V., 2006. "Unemployment and employment offices' efficiency: What can be done?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 169-186, September.
    5. Lisi, Gaetano, 2010. "Introduzione allo studio dei modelli di "matching" del mercato del lavoro [Introduction to the study of matching models of unemployment]," MPRA Paper 22735, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sniekers, F.J.T., 2013. "Endogenous Beveridge cycles and the volatility of unemployment," CeNDEF Working Papers 13-12, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance.
    7. Masaru Sasaki & Miki Kohara & Tomohiro Machikita, 2013. "Measuring Search Frictions Using Japanese Microdata," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 431-451, December.
    8. Berliant, Marcus & Reed III, Robert R. & Wang, Ping, 2006. "Knowledge exchange, matching, and agglomeration," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 69-95, July.
    9. Peter Diamond, 2011. "Unemployment, Vacancies, Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1045-1072, June.
    10. Stops Michael & Mazzoni Thomas, 2010. "Matchingprozesse auf beruflichen Teilarbeitsmärkten / Job Matching on Occupational Labour Markets," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 230(3), pages 287-312, June.
    11. Howard J. Wall & Gylfi Zoega, 2002. "The British Beveridge curve: A tale of ten regions," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 64(3), pages 257-276, July.
    12. Yashiv, Eran, 2007. "Labor search and matching in macroeconomics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1859-1895, November.
    13. Aomar Ibourk & Sergio Perelman, 2001. "Frontières d'efficacité et processus d'appariement sur le marché du travail au Maroc," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(4), pages 33-45.
    14. Thomas, Carlos, 2008. "Search and matching frictions and optimal monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 936-956, July.
    15. Baños, José F. & Rodríguez-Álvarez, Ana & Suárez, Patricia, 2016. "Matching frontiers: A random parameter model approach," Efficiency Series Papers 2016/07, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    16. James M. Malcomson & Sophocles Mavroeidis, 2007. "Matching Frictions, Efficiency Wages, and Unemployment in the USA and the UK," Working Papers 2007-02, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    17. Anna Batyra & David de la Croix & Olivier Pierrard & Henri Sneessens, 2016. "Structural changes in the labor market and the rise of early retirement in Europe," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016022, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    18. Martin Boďa, 2019. "Zmena produktivity vo viacročných obdobiach: Hicksov-Moorsteenov index, jeho dekompozícia a banková aplikácia [Productivity Change in Multi-year Periods: the Hicks-Moorsteen Index, Its Decompositio," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(2), pages 157-180.
    19. Viktor Steiner & Tobias Hagen, 2002. "Was kann die Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik in Deutschland aus der Evaluationsforschung in anderen europäischen Ländern lernen?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(2), pages 189-206, May.
    20. Dairo Estrada & Poldy Osorio, 2004. "Effects of Financial Capital on Colombian Banking Efficiency," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, vol. 22(47), pages 162-201, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:20:y:2003:i:1:p:49-70. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.