The purpose of this project, which is financed by the research council of the Danish ministry of employment, is to compare recent reforms of employmnet policy involving contracting out of the public employment service (PES). The research questions are: What are the main policy arguments for involving other (private) actors in employment services? How does policy intentions compare to practice? Who participates and how? How has the policies developed? And what can Denmark learn from abroad? Experiences from contracting out in Australia, the Netherlands and the UK are used a reference point for evaluating Danish reform measures.