Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Germany (Ratification: 1954)

Articles 1–11 of the Convention and application of the Convention in practice. Organization and functioning of the employment service. The Committee notes the Government’s report which includes its response to the observations made by the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) in 2015. The Government indicates that, despite an increasing qualitative mismatch between supply and demand in the labour market, the high rate of sustainable job placements has increased slightly (by 1.7 percentage points as compared to 2015), reaching 71.6 per cent in 2016. By focusing on the specific needs of persons distant from the labour market, intensive individual holistic integration counselling had further improved the placement rate for these persons, which had reached 41 per cent. The Committee notes that, in order to meet the increased demand for services due to the influx of refugees, additional caseworker positions have been created in the public employment service and in agencies dealing with unemployment insurance and basic financial security, including 100 caseworker positions providing services to severely disabled persons. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide further detailed information on the application of the Convention in practice, particularly on the impact of measures implemented to enhance the capacities of the public employment service, and to provide further information, including statistics, on the number of public employment offices established and their staff, the number of employment applications received, the number of vacancies notified, and the number of persons placed in employment through these offices. Please also provide updated information concerning the measures taken to secure effective cooperation between the public employment service and private employment agencies not conducted with a view to profit (Article 11).

Article 6(b). Migrant workers. Reaffirming that language courses are of utmost importance to facilitate the integration of refugees in the labour market and into the broader society, the Government indicates that the language assistance courses of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) will not be repeated. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is the agency responsible for providing language courses for refugees and, indeed, for all migrants. The capacities of that Office had been increased to enable it to provide occupation-related language assistance to 100,000 migrants in 2016, and to 200,000 migrants in 2017. The Government indicates that the BA’s work will continue to focus on the provision of customized counselling services for jobseekers and employers, taking into account its knowledge of the European Economic Area and the experience gained from its cooperation with the public employment services of other countries. The Committee notes that in order to improve the services offered by the BA to foreign jobseekers, the existing virtual welcome centres have been extended through the creation of additional virtual multilingual communication channels. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken to facilitate the professional integration of migrants and refugees, particularly on the impact of the measures implemented.

Article 8. Juveniles. The Government indicates that, under the Working Alliances – Youth and Work project, the number of partnerships between youth employment agencies and municipal stakeholders, scientific and free public welfare organizations increased from 186 to 218 in 2015. These partnerships have been further extended to include schools. The Government states that, while precise participation rates for the assisted vocational training project are not yet available, in 2015, 5,400 places were available and 7,350 places starting in 2016. The Committee requests the Government to provide information, including statistics, on the impact of the measures taken by the BA to assist juveniles.

Article 11. Cooperation with private employment agencies. The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the DGB’s 2015 observations, referring to the 2012 legislative amendments requiring all agencies offering placement services to obtain licences. The Government states that its labour market policy is not aimed at outsourcing public employment services, indicating that measures adopted pursuant to the policy take a sustainable and holistic approach. The Government further indicates that the DGB’s observations do not reflect the current situation in the country, as shown by the drop in the use of recruitment and placement vouchers, which can be redeemed only when the agency places the jobseeker in sustainable employment. The Government indicates that from 2013 to 2014, the number of recruitment vouchers issued decreased from about 300,000 to 285,000, while the number of placement vouchers redeemed remained roughly the same (31,000 in 2013 compared with 29,700 in 2014). The placement rate during the same period increased from 61.4 per cent to 65 per cent. In 2015, 290,000 persons were placed in employment by the BA directly, and only 15,000 placement vouchers were redeemed. The Government thus considers that the aims of the 2012 legislative amendments were achieved.