The Swedish Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) is terminating contracts with private job coaching companies after an evaluation showed they failed to outperform the agency itself in getting people into work. The reform, implemented following criticism that "Arbetsförmedlingen doesn't mediate any jobs" after the 2018 election, outsourced job matching to private providers under the "Rusta och Matcha" (Prepare and Match) service. According to statistics from Arbetsförmedlingen, the number of matching companies increased dramatically from 35 in 2020 to a peak of 237 in 2024.
However, a subsequent evaluation revealed that private providers did not achieve better labor market outcomes than the agency. " So far, Arbetsförmedlingen has terminated approximately one hundred contracts with companies that failed to deliver sufficient results.
Our study showed that outsourcing employment services to independent providers became more expensive, but it didn't lead to better labor market outcomes