Job Centers Research Articles

New Professional Approaches for Care Leaver in Foster Care: Training “Coaching to Go!”

Introduction: The number of young people with limited or non-existent social participation is growing. Characteristic is the proportion of young homeless individuals who had previous institutional contact with youth welfare. For this group of Care Leavers, the assistance provided can be considered inadequate and unsuccessful. Their life and health situation can be described as precarious. Research Aim: The practice research project aims improvement in the situation of care leavers with specific courses of development regarding their psychological and physical health, their social participation and overall life condition. (Care leavers grew up in out-of-family placements / foster families (according to §§ 27, 2; 33–34 SGB VIII) and are characterized as young people that are leaving or have left these public youth welfare institutions.) It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and carried out in cooperation with various practice institutions inter alia youth welfare, addiction care and homeless assistance facilities, educational institutions and job centers. Research Method: This study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, following a complementary design type, with the results integrated. Results: Care Leavers with specific problems and developmental situations exhibit significant discontinuities in their upbringing, face difficulties, a lack of positive life orientation, and social relationships, and are characterized by unresolved developmental tasks and critical life events. Conclusion: The identified psychosocial developmental disorders and stressors require increased professional care – better assessment, case management, trainings for Resource Activation and Resilience Promotion – both within the framework of youth welfare and other support facilities.

Organisational outputs of administrative reforms: disability in Danish job centres

Organisational outputs of administrative reforms: disability in Danish job centres

Effectiveness of a three-component intervention supporting unemployed individuals with mental health issues in their job search and mental health recovery (3for1): study protocol of a non-randomized controlled study

BackgroundThere is a vicious cycle between unemployment and mental health issues. Unemployed individuals with mental health issues require individualized support at multiple levels in order to promote their mental health, and obtain and retain employment. The 3for1-intervention program aims to provide such support with three components (short-term psychotherapy, job coaching based on the Individual Placement and Support approach, and peer support). This study protocol outlines how the effectiveness of this three-component intervention program in terms of re-employment, mental health, and psychosocial outcomes will be evaluated.MethodsThe 3for1-intervention program will be evaluated with a non-randomized controlled trial design in a multi-center study. 500 eligible participants aged between 18 and 60 years from six job centers in Southern Germany will be allocated to a control group or an intervention group. Allocation is time-based, with the control group being recruited first, followed by recruitment of the intervention group. The control group will receive treatment as usual, whereas the intervention group will receive treatment as usual as well as access to the three intervention components over a period of 12 months. Assessment will be conducted at baseline (t0), and 12 (t1) and 18 (t3) months later. The primary outcome will be the proportion of participants who are in employment subject to social insurance contributions at t1. Differences between control and intervention group will be tested with logistic regression analysis, controlling for relevant covariates. Analyses of secondary outcomes will relate to group differences regarding re-employment, health and well-being, social integration, help-seeking, and self-stigma at t1 and t2, applying logistic regression analysis or analysis of covariance. Additionally, usage of health services will be measured to evaluate the intervention program’s cost effectiveness.DiscussionThe 3for1-intervention aims to improve employability and mental health outcomes of a vulnerable population with high need for assistance. Improvements for this population would benefit the German welfare state as well. This study could provide valuable insights into the feasibility, implementation, and sustainability of this individualized, multi-level support program within German job centers.Trial registrationThis trial is registered with the German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00029002 (registered on 11 May 2022).

The Working Jobless: Unemployment as Work

Being unemployed is, by definition, someone without a job, but is it somebody without work? This paper presents an empirical study of unemployed job seekers and the work they do in connection with upholding their everyday life, job search, technology use, and the necessary connections with the public unemployment office (job center). Within the country where the research is conducted, the activities of the unemployed involve balancing formal legal requirements and procedures (to secure unemployment benefits, etc.) with informal navigation of the rules and regulations, networks and activities directed towards employment. The activities are mediated by digital platforms, e.g. job search, accountability, documentation, and, as a consequence, job seekers largely have to depend on their technologies and experiences to manage these processes. We present a study of interviews with job seekers (n=10) with an average age of 60, and two Participatory Design workshops with a total of 15 participants. Our analysis shows that the unemployed carry out work towards fulfilling formal requirements posed by the unemployment office, as well as setting up their daily, computer-supported routines, and a significant amount of unrecognized hidden work navigating rules, status and informal networks.

Vocational Rehabilitation in Times of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed new challenges to actors in vocational rehabilitation (VR) for people with disabilities. In this study, we were interested in the following: How did actors like service providers and financers of VR (here: German Federal Employment Agency (FEA)) experience the Covid-19 pandemic, which process changes and delays have occurred, and what impact will this possibly have on the future of vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities? Between July 2020 und July 2021, a total of 29 persons from service providers of VR programs (n=16) and representatives of the FEA (n=8) were asked about their experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in the course of 24 guided expert interviews. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded in MAXQDA; the analyses of the transcribed material are based on a system developed from inductive and deductive categories. VR programs had to be conducted remotely, digital possibilities had to be created. As a result, VR was also forced to evolve technologically, revealing opportunities (in the provision of programs) and limitations (e. g. acquisition of social skills or assessment of mental health). Thus, continuous additional support by the service providers was indispensable to contain psychological crises, to ensure the understanding of the program contents and to avoid dropouts. Just like schools, the employment agencies and job centers closed their doors for a long time and VR and general vocational counseling did not take place nor did assessment procedures carried out at the medical and psychological services of the FEA for determining VR needs. A decline in access to VR had been apparent for some time, but it became increasingly evident, particularly for 2021/22. Individuals from poor households were more likely to be affected because they were more difficult to keep in touch with. Even though VR has experienced a major digital boost, experience from the pandemic has shown that programs in face-to-face formats with social contact are particularly important for young people and people with mental disabilities. Nevertheless, VR must change with the working environment in order to prevent people with disabilities from being left behind even further.

Emotional capital in citizen agency: Contesting administrative burden through anger

Abstract The literature on administrative burden has focused on cognitive, material, and social resources, leaving emotional strategies and processes largely unexplored. This study begins to address this research gap by elaborating Illouz’ (2007) concept of emotional capital in the context of citizen agency. The article uses the concept emotional capital to analyze claimant anger in response to administrative burdens examining the question: how do citizens understand and maneuver the potential benefits and risks of expressing their anger when experiencing administrative burdens? The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Danish job centers involving interviews with 71 claimants and observations of 10 conversations between caseworkers and claimants. The article contributes to theorize the role of emotions in citizen-state encounters by showing that emotional capital works as a resource moderating the experience of and coping with administrative burden

Mentally ill people with means-tested benefits at the job center : Diagnosis spectrum and care-First results from the LIPSY project

Although people receiving means-tested benefits are regularly taken care of at the job center, little is known about their mental health situation and mental health care. The aim of the study was to describe the diagnostic spectrum and the functional status as well as the mental health care utilization of individuals with mental illnesses who are receiving means-tested benefits. Mentally ill people with means-tested benefits were recruited at the job center as part of the "Leipzig Individual Placement and Support for Mentally Ill People" (LIPSY) project, where they were initially diagnosed according to ICD-10 and included in the project if they had amental disorder. Mental healthcare utilization was recorded. In the present study, data from n = 583 consecutively included persons were analyzed descriptively and by multivariate statistics. Of the study participants 60.7% (n = 583; 51.5% female; average age36years; unemployed for an average of 4.8years) suffered from affective disorders, followed by neurotic, stress and somatoform disorders (42.5%). With amean global assessment of functioning (GAF) value of 49.4 (SD 7.7), there was on average aserious impairment. Nearly half of the subjects (48.5%) had never received psychotherapeutic, psychiatric or neurological treatment in the 6 months prior to inclusion in the project. It could be shown that there is abroad spectrum of mental disorders with substantial functional impairment. The data suggest that this group is significantly undertreated and difficult to reach.

Geographic representation and requests for federal funds in the U.S. senate

AbstractAn essential component of a representative's job centers on deciding where to allocate scarce resources. How do legislators attempt to allocate spending across the geographic units of their constituencies, and what determines a legislator's success in securing these resources? To answer these questions, we create a new dataset of all earmark requests made by U.S. senators in the 117th Congress. This data was recently made available as part of reforms, allowing researchers to examine both requests and outcomes. We show that senators prioritize seeking earmarks for areas of their constituencies critical to their electoral success. We then match these requests to earmarks funded by the Appropriations Committee and show that a legislator's institutional standing and the behavior of their same‐state colleague—but not electoral concerns—shape whether projects are successfully funded. We provide insight into a behind‐the‐scenes aspect of representation and illuminate the strategic dynamics that shape federal spending.

The impact of shared mobility on metro ridership: The non-linear effects of bike-sharing and ride-hailing services

Understanding the relationship between the emerging shared mobility and the metro is essential for their successful integration. Although several studies have examined specific shared mobility modes individually, the differences between these modes in terms of integration with the metro system have largely been neglected. We address this research gap by investigating the impact of bike-sharing and ride-hailing on metro ridership, using a comprehensive dataset collected in Shenzhen. We also conduct a comparative analysis of these two shared mobility modes based on temporal and spatial dimensions and proximity to job centers. Our results are as follows. 1) Metro-integrated bike-sharing trips are most highly concentrated in commuting hours, primarily near downtown stations, and in areas with easy access to the metro system, while metro-integrated ride-hailing trips demonstrate a more even distribution between morning and evening and are more closely associated with job centers, especially those with inadequate metro service coverage. 2) Compared with bike-sharing, ride-hailing is a more effective shared mobility mode for addressing the “first- and last-mile” issue at night and at stations located far from job centers, but bike-sharing is more complementary to the metro system during peak hours and near downtown stations. 3) The complementary effects of shared mobility are only identified within a certain range. Once the number of shared mobility arrivals exceeds a certain threshold, the effects of bike-sharing become limited and those of ride-hailing shift toward negative. Based on our findings, we provide policy recommendations for better integration of shared mobility services with the metro.

부적응 요인이 직업상담사의 직무성과에 미치는 효과: 자기성찰, 전문직업성 및 내재적 직무만족의 매개 효과

This study was conducted to examine the effect of maladjustment factors on the job performance of counselors and to explore ways to improve them. The subjects of this study were a total of 212 career counselors working at institutions of the Employment and Welfare Plus Center of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, private consignment institutions of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, local government job centers, new work support centers, and university Job Plus centers. The survey was conducted online from April 1st to April 26th, 2023 through the in-house bulletin board or e-mail of each institution. The measurement tools used a work environment scale, a self-reflection scale, a professional occupation scale, an intrinsic satisfaction scale, and a job performance scale. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS 23.0 program and the PROCESS macrover. 3.3 program. The research results were as follows.: First, in the relationship between maladaptive factors and job performance of career counselors, a significant multi-mediating effect was found in which self-reflection and professionalism sequentially influence each other. Second, in the relationship between maladaptive factors and career counselors' job performance, a significant multimediating effect was found in which self-reflection and intrinsic job satisfaction sequentially influence each other. These results confirmed that it is important to improve job performance by improving career counselor's self-reflection, intrinsic job satisfaction, and expertise in order to reduce the influence of maladjustment factors. It was confirmed that career counselors with maladjustment factors had a great influence on the performance of career counseling in terms of self-reflection and recognition of professionalism. This suggests that there is a need to provide systematic continuing education for career counselors and opportunities to share field experiences.

Heroes, Victims, and Resisters: Agentic Vulnerability and Techniques of Identity Talk in Digitalized Job Centers

This article explores vulnerable clients' techniques of identity talk, drawing on interviews with clients in Danish job centers. We combine the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism with the sociology of nothing to explore techniques of disidentification from the nonworker identity. The study demonstrates how the actors perform agentic vulnerability to resolve their identity dilemmas. We identify three techniques of identity talk: (1) hero‐talk to reassert their hard worker identity, (2) victim‐talk to excuse their current positions, and (3) resister‐talk through commissive and omissive responses to digital demands and requirements. The latter involves different forms of negational action: doing something, nondoing, and doing nothing.

Caught in a standstill—The unresolved challenges of integrated service delivery in public organizations

AbstractDespite widespread support for integrated service delivery (ISD), the challenges of making ISD a sustainable feature of the public sector remain unresolved. This article offers new insights to this persistent challenge by developing a novel theoretical framework, inspired by the perspective of institutional complexity, and applying it to the case of Danish job centers. We demonstrate how the contradictory and layered nature of governance arrangements simultaneously pose demands of service integration and ‐separation on the job centers. Consequently, the job center managers can neither prioritize one of the demands nor blend them into hybrid practices. Instead, their attempts to further ISD remain inherently temporary—as they are continuously forced to reverse back to old organizational boundaries, to oscillate between work processes supporting service integration and service separation, and to rebuild collaborative relations. The managers are thus caught in a “frenetic standstill,” which hinders the sustainable organizing of ISD.

Role of social medicine within the German Federal Employment Agency

Social medicine deals with the interrelationships between health and society-as across-sectional subject within medicine and abridging subject at the interfaces to other specialist disciplines. In the public and within the health system, social medicine still does not receive the attention it should be given, despite to its medical and socioeconomic importance. Asignificant proportion of social medicine specialists in Germany work as experts for social security providers. Using the example of the Medical Specialist Service ("Ärztlichen Dienstes", ÄD) of the German Federal Employment Agency ("Bundesagentur für Arbeit", BA), the medical tasks in social medicine are outlined. About 350 full-time medical employees nationwide as well as other contracted physicians support the specialists of the employment agencies and job centers to integrate those seeking training, jobs and employees with health restrictions into the labor market or maintaining an existing integration. In each individual case, they assess the extent of the health restrictions, the performance/earning ability, the suitability for training and professions as well as the requirement and type of vocational rehabilitation services. The ÄD's approximately 500,000 expert opinions each year are not only of far-reaching importance for the BA's affected customers, but also contribute to the responsible, effective, and accurate use of social system resources.

Limits of Activation? Street-Level Responses to the 2015 Refugee Challenge in German Job Centers

Frontline workers in host-country state organizations influence refugees’ life chances and social integration. Yet little is known about how the local organizational environment shapes the action orientations of street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). This article explores how German job centers and placement officers have responded to the unprecedented increase in refugee clients following the winter of 2015/16. Our findings suggest that new organizational structures motivate SLBs to interpret rules flexibly and do what works well. This pattern of authorized rule bending is relevant for overcoming the limits of activation and for the inclusion/exclusion of refugees as mediated by state bureaucracy.

Conflicting demands and emotional labour: Balancing and swapping at the front line of the welfare state

This article combines insights from the sociology of emotional labour with works on conflicting demands facing employees to analyse how frontline staff conduct emotional labour in contexts marked by multifaceted demands facing them. It demonstrates the usefulness of this combination through an analysis of group interviews with frontline staff within Danish job centres, who are currently explicitly instructed to display sincere belief in the job prospects of clients, while also representing a disciplining activation system marked by conditionality. The article contributes to existing literature through an elaboration of two concepts – ‘balancing’ and ‘swapping’ – describing forms of emotional labour conducted by frontline staff in a work setting characterized by conflicting demands. The former is about striking a balance between the wants of the client and the wants of the system while sustaining clients’ feelings of motivation. The latter is about enabling oneself to encounter clients in ways which are personalized and informal, within the contours of a system marked by bureaucratic logics and language.

Enhancing Early Risk Detection for Reduced Earning Capacity: The Development of the padaCura App

In Germany, 1.7 million individuals received reduced earning capacity pensions in 2020, but reintegrating them into the labor market remains challenging. For individuals who have a reduced earning capacity, this often leads to adverse consequences (e.g., low quality of life, poverty, social stigma). The project ‘Cooperation for prevention, fitness and health in the job center (KOPF22)’ focuses on early risk detection and prevention strategies for clients of the job center (who are recipients of Citizen’s Income) as they face various challenges in maintaining their ability to work. The padaCura App, a key component of the project, assesses the risk of reduced earning capacity using an ICF-based questionnaire. It offers immediate feedback reports to clients, categorizing their risk levels and suggesting actions in plain language with visual aids. Since the project emphasizes the client’s autonomy and voluntary participation, clients decide how to proceed with their results. If they decide to cooperate with the job center, then several offers for prevention and intervention measures can be used to increase employability. The first evaluations of the app and the questionnaire demonstrate its effectiveness in differentiating between employable persons and incapacitated individuals. Future developments should focus on enhancing the result reports to include more targeted interventions and on collaboration between employment support resources and healthcare systems to meet clients’ needs.

Twelve-Month Outcomes after Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery among Youths Participating in a Structured Preparation and Follow-Up Program: Results of the Youth with Extreme Obesity Study

Introduction: While invasive and associated with risks, metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) can promote sustained weight loss and substantial health benefits in youths with extreme obesity. The path toward informed decision making for or against MBS is poorly characterized and postoperative follow-up to assess risks and benefits is inconsistent. In youths with extreme obesity, we aimed to evaluate decision making toward MBS, as well as MBS outcomes and adherence with follow-up and recommendations in the setting of a structured pre- and post-MBS program. Methods: Participants were recruited in the setting of the multicenter “Youth with Extreme Obesity Study” (YES). YES is a cohort study in adolescents and young adults aged 14–24 years with obesity (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m²) who were recruited at four medical centers and one job center in Germany between 2012 and 2018. Participants at two medical centers with BMI ≥35 kg/m², aged 14–24 years, and interested in pursuing MBS were included in the subproject 3 “Safety and effectiveness of weight loss surgery in adolescents with severe obesity within a structured pre- and post-surgery treatment program – an observational study” that comprised a 2-months pre- and 12-months post-MBS program. Results: Twenty-eight of 169 youths (17%) with BMI ≥35 kg/m² were interested in MBS. Twenty-six fulfilled published eligibility criteria for MBS and participated in the structured pre-MBS preparation program. Of these, 9 participants (2 females) decided against, and 17 (n = 11 females) decided for MBS (sleeve gastrectomy). The 12-month follow-up rate was high (16/17 [94%]) and all participants achieved significant weight reduction (ΔBMI: −16.1 ± 5.6 kg/m²). Eleven of 16 participants (69%) reported taking the prescribed dietary supplements in the first year after MBS, but only five of them (31%) did so daily. In contrast to the high 12-month retention rate, follow-up after completion of the structured program was low at 24-months (9/16 [56%]) and at 36-months (5/15 [36%]), respectively. Conclusion: Participants demonstrated active decision making for or against MBS and high adherence with the structured pre- and 12 months post-MBS program, but participation was low thereafter. These findings endorse the need for longer term structured post-MBS programs to capture long-term outcomes and provide adequate care in this vulnerable group at the transition to adulthood.

Analisis Peranan Pelatihan Vokasi Oleh BPVP Banda Aceh Dalam Peningkatan Keterampilan Pengangguran Terdidik Lulusan Perguruan Tinggi Di Kota Banda Aceh

Education, experience and skills are important indicators in fulfilling labor force participation. However, in reality, based on BPS data for 2021, the educated unemployment rate has increased from 6.69% in 2020 to 8.55% in 2021 of the total workforce with college graduates. The Job and Productivity Training Center (BPVP) as a formal educational institution has provided additional skills education for college graduates. This research was conducted using a qualitative research method with a descriptive approach with a field approach carried out by means of observation, interviews and documentation for three months and confirmed with a number of college graduate students, alumni, staff and facilitators. Field findings show a large influence in increasing the skills capacity of training participants. The Community Satisfaction Index (IKM) with services at the Banda Aceh Vocational and Productivity Training Center in Semester 1 of the 2023 Fiscal Year received an average score of 91. with the title of Very Good service unit performance.

Navigating between stakeholders in return-to-work processes: A qualitative study exploring experiences of workers on sick leave due to back pain.

Return-to-work processes involve many stakeholders who need to cooperate to best support the person on sick leave. Yet, there is little knowledge of how workers sick listed due to back pain experience navigating between stakeholders. This study aimed to explore how Danish workers on sick leave due to back pain experience navigating between the involved stakeholders, focusing on settings related to social work, health care and workplace. Sixteen individual semi-structured interviews were conducted and data analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Analysis resulted in three themes. 1) 'Meeting the system' where establishing a positive relationship with the social worker was hampered by a negative perception of the job centre. This perception was initiated by the convening letter and accentuated by physical meetings being experienced as a waste of time. 2) In 'Navigating between systems' some participants lacked support from professionals to navigate the role as messenger between the job centre and health care system. 3) In 'The workplace-a familiar arena' workers experience the workplace as a familiar arena, even if negative decisions were made. Analysis additionally revealed that patients' return-to-work processes could be divided into two types, namely complex and smooth. The initial contact from the job centre seems pivotal for the following return-to-work process. The main challenges experienced by sick listed workers were related to the job centre and to being a messenger between job centre and health care, not to their workplace and the decisions made there.

Terra Incognita: California Transit Agency Perspectives on Demand, Service, and Finance in the Age of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic upended transit use, finance, and management. To investigate these effects two years into the pandemic, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with senior managers at transit agencies in the most populous U.S. state, California. We found that the pandemic generated many operational and managerial challenges for transit agencies. Ridership plummeted, then slowly recovered, but is still well below pre-pandemic levels at most agencies. Commuter trips to and from major job centers were especially slow to return. In response to decreased demand, public health concerns, and uncertain finances, many agencies cut services and spending early on. As a result, fare revenues declined, in some cases precipitously. However, federal pandemic relief funds proved essential in filling budgetary gaps, stabilizing finances, preventing layoffs, and maintaining services. Other transit subsidies mostly bounced back robustly. Our interviews suggest that, though California transit agencies experimented with free fares, few fareless programs were made permanent. Their challenges include considerable uncertainty associated with future travel demand, looming financial shortfalls at systems that formerly had high farebox recovery and are still drawing on federal pandemic funds to backfill their fare revenue losses, and protracted labor shortages of drivers and mechanics that are preventing many systems from providing desired levels of service.