Crisis and the welfare state: the role of public employment services for job placement and the Danish flexicurity system during COVID-19.

This article examines the impact of on-site public employment services (PES) in Denmark, a Nordic welfare state with a flexicurity labor market system, on local job placement and unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design based on the spatially staggered re-opening of on-site PES after the first lockdown in 2020, the study finds that earlier re-opening of these services significantly reduced unemployment rates and increased job placements, particularly benefiting low-skilled workers and rural municipalities characterized by older workforces, lower incomes, and sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. The findings suggest that on-site PES remain a crucial component of activating workfare policies to address social and regional labor market imbalances during crises, and that shifting entirely to online service provision may undermine effectiveness for vulnerable groups and areas.