Abstract

The paper analyses the evolution of public employment services in five European countries (Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom), looking at both their structure and their functions. In particular, it examines the influence of domestic factors (the crisis of national labour policies due to the rise of unemployment rates) and external factors (ideas and opinions spread by supranational institutions like ILO, OECD, the European Court of Justice and the European Commission via the European Employment Strategy) on member states' reforms. Examining the contents of national innovations and international documents, the author argues in favour of a process of "anglicization" of the policy paradigm which has inspired public employment services' reorganization.