Private employment agencies in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden

This paper, written by Gijsbert van Liemt, discusses the development of private employment agencies in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, focusing on the period from the mid-1990s to 2013, highlighting some of the main issues of concern to the agency industry.

This paper, written by Gijsbert van Liemt, discusses the development of private employment agencies (PrEAs) in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, highlighting some of the main issues of concern to the agency industry. Its focus is on the period after the early 1990s, when their activities were legalized in Spain and Sweden. In the Netherlands, they had been allowed to operate much earlier. The paper places the industry’s development in the context of changes in the economy, the labour market, and the regulatory framework.

It is one of several research studies prepared in 2013 for SECTOR on the impact of the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181); the framework for operation of private employment agencies; employment conditions; and treatment as regards such issues as pay, social protection, leave and pensions in selected countries, providing sectoral information as appropriate.