A convergence analysis on the efficiency of public job placement services in Japan

Public job placement services assist in “pairing together” job offers with job seekers. The aim is to mass-produce high quality jobs meeting the requirements of both parties and to help the “underdogs in the employment market” by bearing the “pairing costs,” or job-searching costs of both parties. The provision of unemployment benefits is a passive policy in the labor market, while public job placement services are typically an active policy, since the government is actively involved in the labor market. Public job placement services hold a particularly critical position among Japan’s employment policies. As shown in Table 1, over 60% of expenditures for active employment measures are allocated to public job placement services in Japan. In European countries, apart from the UK, these services account for less than 20%, and in the US, the ratio is less than 30%. Unlike Canada, Denmark, Germany and the US, where the government places greater emphasis