The number of countries using algorithms to profile jobseekers are on the rise since the 1990s. Algorithmic profiling aims to identify individuals with little counselling needs, and those for whom intensive counselling and active labour market policies are expected to have the largest returns. The ultimate goal is to target services and thereby expenditures towards the latter. In a dual context of budget constraints and technological innovations, profiling algorithms are increasingly seen as an important tool to identify and target the likely long-term unemployed.
The EU H2020 funded research project HECAT (Disruptive Technologies Supporting Labour Market Decision Making) questions this consensus. The project draws on the experiences of unemployed and aims to develop a digital platform called «My Labour Market». In this lecture, professor and HECAT-researcher Janine Leschke from the Department of Management, Society and Communication at Copenhagen Business School will present the research project and focus on the scope for using job quality information in profiling and job matching tools.