Fördern und Fordern (Demand and support) Some facts about the labour market in Hamburg. Source: Demand for skilled labour in Hamburg, Powerpoint presentation, Bundesagentur fur Arbeit Hamburg, april 2013 On the left side you can see the advertised positions and how many days it takes to get the right person. On the right side you see how many applicants have applied. Jobs that require long experience or accredited education do have problem finding the right applicants, while jobs where there are more people qualified than jobs available (like media, artist) and jobs requiring low skilled workers are filled quickly. The result is similar to the one we have in Stockholm. Plumbers, electricians do find it easy to get employment, while uneducated gardeners find it more difficult. What the graph shows us is that students that stop schools earlier do find it harder to enter the Labour market. Problem with the language is a contributing factor.
The unemployment rate is approximately 6% for the youth and 8% for the elderly. The younger don t have bigger problems than others to get a job. On the contrary it seems that younger unemployed find it easier to get jobs. The opposite of the situation in Sweden and Stockholm where younger do have a hard time to get a permanent job. Overall the unemployment rate in Hamburg is slightly higher than in Stockholm, if you take in account all groups. Even though the structure of unemployment seem to be the same, excluding the problems for young people in Sweden they do handle the issue in a different matter. Shortage of craftsmen and high qualified jobs and on the other end, hard for unskilled people to gain employment are the same problems as in Stockholm. Some statistic and information The Bundesagentur fur Arbeit (BFA) has 200 employees. (Public Employment Service) There are more than 180.000 registered companies in Hamburg. BFA has contact with 49.000 of them. Many of the 180.000 registered companies are very small without employees. There are 71.000 persons (per month) registered in the BFA and Jobcentres computer system. (It is important to note that this includes children and all family members who receive benefits not only unemployment benefits. Generally, the way we count people in Stockholm is only the individual person who is receiving the unemployment benefit.) All unemployed must register themselves to get unemployment benefit and other benefits such as housing benefit. 40.000 of them are unskilled (56%). Only 11% of the jobs available could be taken by those unskilled. Only 30 to 40% of the jobs that are available are known by the BFA and Jobcentre. In the Jobcentre database in April 2013 there were 15.000 jobs available In Hamburg according to the numbers that are given is 15.000/0,4 =37.500 jobs in total available (April 2013). Common Platforms JOBBÖRSE The whole system is a gigantic computerise matching machine. The advantages are... The clients only need to give information to the authorities one time.
The program can screen the applicants and reduce the number of persons to interview for a specific job. The responds from the unemployed can be seen by every authority that is involved around the person. Each authority can only see pages for their needs. The mapping is deeper and takes account of the client s total situation, not only the job seeking parts. The disadvantages are... Risk that a company gets miss match personnel if the authorities use the system without personal contact with the unemployed. Risk that the work management or politicians don t give enough resources to the organisations while believing that the system of matching is automatic and done by computers. When the computer system is down, everything goes into deadlock. Nobody can work with the client. Source: Lennart Vikström. Arbetsmarknadsförvaltningen Stockholms Stad; Stockholm 2013
Apprenticeships Germany has a long tradition of apprenticeships unlike the current situation in Sweden and Stockholm. The apprentice gets a small salary (500 to 700 Euro/month) and the companies have special supervisors to support the development of the apprentices skills. The apprentice is treated the same way as other employees in the company, with holidays and similar benefits. The agreement only stipulates that the apprentice is with the company for the duration of their apprenticeship. This goes two ways, the company don t need to hire the apprentice after they complete their apprenticeship, neither has the apprentice any obligations to the company and can if he or she so wishes- go to another company. The BFA and Jobcentre match persons to the apprenticeship, just as any other job. To find the right persons and shorten the application time they use the same computerise system (Jobbörse) as if it would have been a normal job. (It is important to note that apprenticeships can be gained through routes other than the BFA and Jobcentres, such as directly from school, recruited directly by companies etc.) This service is free of charge for the companies. The administration is done by BFA/Jobcentre even if the apprentice has found the company by her-/himself. Public Funded Work Placement The system of using Public Funded Work Placement is totally different from the Swedish way of doing it. The argument why they use this method is completely different as well. Funded Placement is used with care. The argument is that it should only be used if the employer is unsure that the jobseeker fits into the working environment. The time to find this out is maximum 2 week, normally only one week. The BFA policy is... The state or other authorities paid by tax money should NOT interfere or give companies that live under competition any monetary benefit such as free labour. In the city of Stockholm this argument only applies to non-profit companies, even though it is common to help these companies in the rest of Europe, and Sweden. When it comes to giving companies -that compete on a free market- long placements without agreement on increasing the recognised skill level of the unemployed there are no such arguments in Sweden. Instead the use of the length of funded placement periods has increased. The Swedish PES regularly gives 6 month of public funded placements to companies. The argument for this is... Public Funded Work Placement is a way to enter the labour market, and should be used as a labour market policy measure. The problems with companies competing on different conditions are political and are different in Stockholm and Hamburg. If the Stockholm way gives more jobs in the long run is hard to speculate about, since no statistic on the matter is available. The German way is clear and they have to invent other tools to bring unemployed into the market. The German PES only gives work placement if the company needs and wants to hire the client, this is not the case in Sweden were placement is given on other terms. The German system One method is the apprenticeships that we have written about above. Another method is to increase the level of education. To do this they involve the social benefit system. Education is free in Germany as in Sweden, the difference is how the client are surviving financially during the time they study. In Sweden you have to take a loan from the state, in Germany you can get social benefit for 3 years, while attending school. The first 2 years the state pays the benefits and the last year the city of Hamburg pays the benefits.
Another difference is that all authorities around the client are using the same system with the same goals, this also includes the social services. To make longer forecasts the Jobcentre and BFA get lists from the German labour market information authority so that they can give the clients better information on labour market needs guiding them on what to study and where the chances are to get jobs (which branch is rising and which are declining). And last but not least, the client is seen as a customer, not a client. This is a mental method and ensures that all decisions are made from the customer s perspective. The biggest differences between Hamburg and Stockholm The way we look upon public funded work placement, the length and the purpose. The tools we have to individually match an unemployed person to a job Free paid education as an alternative Look upon a client as a customer and make decisions according to this angel. Better statistic information made available concerning the labour market What can be used by us in Stockholm? Short term: Contact with the Swedish statistic authority (SCB) Long terms: Learn and influence others about the apprenticeships and the education system. What do we want to share with our colleagues? Apprenticeships, can we do it in Stockholm? Discussions about the length and benefits of publically funded work placements. Cooperation between our BFA (PES) and our Jobcentres. Get more integrated on a local level. Make contact and start working with colleagues (Example: Matching people with job supervisor SIUS)