Unemployment insurance funds and active employment policy 09:04

After the Welfare Agreement and the “More People into Employment” reform, unemployment insurance funds now have additional responsibilities in relation to their unemployed members. These include advice on how to write a successful CV, more frequent follow-up interviews and employment services. At the same time, funds are now playing a more important role in implementing active employment policy, focusing on finding jobs quickly for unemployed people.
This report is the third publication from the Danish National Centre for Social Research (SFI) based on a large research project on the role of different players in active employment policy. This survey focuses on how unemployment insurance fund employees are carrying out these additional responsibilities. In 2006 the report entitled “Municipal Employment Efforts 06:28” was published, and in 2008 “State and Municipal Employment Efforts 08:19” was published.
The survey has been funded by the Ministry of Employment and SFI. It shows that unemployment insurance funds are contributing significantly to implementing active employment policy. However, in some cases unemployment insurance fund employees are not entirely happy about this policy. For example, when their unemployed members have poor occupational prospects and it is therefore necessary to upgrade their skills.
The report is based on two questionnaire surveys, the first aimed at the employees at unemployment insurance funds who interview unemployed members, and the second aimed at their managers. The people in the survey are all employees and middle managers at unemployment insurance funds in Denmark working with these additional responsibilities. The survey is also based on 15 face-to-face interviews with senior managers, middle managers and employees in four selected unemployment insurance funds.