LAUSR

Service individualization is high on the agenda of active welfare states. Especially for the long-term unemployed and other people with complex problems, individualized employment and social services are seen as a crucial precondition for social and labour market integration. To achieve tailor-made service delivery, welfare states have introduced new governance mechanisms such as client profiling, performance indicators, game-theoretical incentives or institutionalized discretion. However, comparative research on how these governance mechanisms affect service individualization is still rare. To fill this gap, this article presents an exploratory vignette study on Denmark and the Netherlands conducted in 2010–12. The main finding of this study is that institutionalized discretion, as it is implemented in the Dutch minimum income system, increases the variety and innovativeness of employment services, makes service provision more holistic (especially for vulnerable clients), and increases the targeting capacity of service allocation between vulnerable and work-ready clients.