PES Mediation Activities in Times of COVID-19

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 had a serious impact on the EU member countries. There was hardly a sector of the economy that was not affected by the measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Labour market policy actors, including the national Public Employment Services (PES), had to adapt existing placement processes within a very short period of time to the framework conditions of no or limited customer contact due to the pandemic. Against this background, this study examines how the labour market in other EU member countries has developed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and how European public employment services have responded to the resulting organisational challenges in job placement. These international experiences are used to draw conclusions for Austria.