Local economic strategies for ageing labour markets Workshop - 31st March 2015 - OECD (Paris)

1. © Stadt Offenbach am Main 2014
Employment 50 plus – a Regional Alliance
for the Integration of Jobseekers
OECD LEED Expert Roundtable: 31 March 2015,
Paris, France
Matthias Schulze-Böing

2. Chance 50plus:
 a regional alliance for the
reintegration of job-
seekers 50 plus into the
labor-market
 Initiated by the City of
Offenbach in 2007 it is
now operational in 5
districts in the Land of
Hessen
Cities of Offenbach and Wiesbaden, Counties Groß-
Gerau, Wetterau, Gießen, Hochtaunus

3. Strategy:
 Implementation of coordinated policies in 5 jobcenters,
normally working independent from each other
 Involving key stakeholders in the respective local and regional
labor-markets – e. g. chambers of industry and commerce,
employers, health insurance, education and training institutes
 Defining a wider agenda of increasing employability and
inclusion – e. g. social activation measures, measures to
improve health and well-being, education and training

4. Management structure:
 Steering committee of directors of the member job-
centers
 Operational network-management as central resource
for coordination
 Central financial management, controlling and
accountancy
 Working-groups of operational managers (team
leaders) to exchange experience and work out joint
guidelines for practice

5. Added value of cooperation:
 Synergies and economics of scale – e. g. a joint pool for
communications expertise, joint efforts for the innovative
measures, replication of successful measures in partner
districts
 Mutual learning, exchange of experience and good practice,
benchmarking as continuous process of improvement
 Pooling of financial ressources, extended options for
rebalancing and adjusting the budgets for integration
measures

6. Parameters:
 Funding under the national scheme „Regional Alliances for
Employment 50 plus“
 Budget of „Chance 50 plus“ Offenbach et al.: 11 Mio Euro p.
a.
 Cooperation under a binding agreement, joint accountancy
and supervision
 Pay per performance on the basis of a contract with
national goverment, setting objectives for each year,
defined procedures for the measurement of goal attainment

7. Results 2007-2014 :
 14.000 transitions into paid work
 Among those: 10.000 transitions into standard contracts
including social security and unemployment insurance
 3.600 socially activated job seekers per year (data for 2014)
 Objectives met by 96% since 2011
 Annual award „Farsighted Employer of the Year“ („Unternehmer
mit Weitblick“), awarding employers with exceptional good
practice in the employment of mature workforce

8. MainArbeit. Kommunales Jobcenter Offenbach
www.mainarbeit-offenbach.de
www.chance50.de
Dr. Matthias Schulze-Böing, T. 0049-69-8065-8200
schulze-boeing@offenbach.de