The Referral and Vacancy Filling Performance of the Commonwealth Employment Service: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

This study makes use of specially collected data to analyse the referral and vacancy filling performance of the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES). The main objectives of the study are to: (i) assess employer criticisms of the CES, in particular that the CES refers too few or too many applicants and takes too long to fill vacancies; (ii) analyse the factors which may be associated with vacancies being filled or not by the CES and the number of referrals to and the duration of these vacancies; and (iii) examine the impact of the self-service referral facility on the number of referrals to and duration of vacancies. The conclusion which emerges from this paper in respect of CES performance is generally favourable although clearly more research is needed in this important but sparsely researched area of labour economics.