The Public Employment Service in a Changing Labour Market

1. The public employment service (PES) emerged in industrialized countries around the end of the nineteenth century as a result of concerns about the social and economic impact of unemployment. The early labour exchanges were mainly concerned with job-broking, that is with the process of arranging for jobseekers to obtain jobs and employers to fill vacancies, but some also became involved in new systems of unemployment insurance. In 1919, the newly formed International Labour Organization (ILO) recommended the establishment of the PES to member States through the Unemployment Convention (No. 2). For many years, the ILO sought through other Conventions such as the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention, 1933 (No. 34) and the Fee-Charging Employment Agencies Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 96) to secure a monopoly position for the PES and the abolition of private employment agencies (PREAs).