Employment services have been enhanced in Southwest Finland through close cooperation between the TE office and private service providers

MDI and Melkior carried out an evaluation and effectiveness study of the Enhanced Employment Service on behalf of the ELY Centre for Southwest Finland. According to the results of the evaluation, the effectiveness of TE services as a whole have been enhanced by adoption of the operating model based on the enhanced employment service. The enhanced employment service model was introduced in Southwest Finland in autumn 2017 in response to the large-scale recruitment needs generated by the restructuring of the region’s industry. Employment services were additionally resourced with a purchasing service, where the service provider was Työelämän Infopiste Oy.

The operating model was based on close co-operation between the TE Office and the service provider with the aim of providing guidance and coaching services in accordance with the job seeker’s individual needs in support of their job search. The research results show that the operating model has been able to employ and direct customers to employment-promoting services more effectively than the TE Office’s previous employment model. The model has been particularly useful for those customer groups who retained a close attachment to the labour market but were not self-employed.

The cornerstones of the functioning of the operating model have been:

• sufficiently large customer volumes
• the long lead time of the experiment
• sufficient flexibility in the operating model
• a reasonably well-functioning customer management process
• effective fee criteria
• strong understanding and experience of the external service provider in TE management, and
• strong commitment of the actors involved to the project

The aim of the research was to evaluate the results and effects of the enhanced employment service in Southwest Finland in relation to the investment used in the service. The analysis of the implementation of the operating model was carried out through interviews and document analysis, as well as the counterfactual assessment of the separate effects of the operating model and the assessment of the total and cost effects by statistical methods. In addition, the work identified the most important lessons from the operating model for the development of future employment services.

Materials

The report