[Vocational Rehabilitation - Comparing Clients of the Federal Employment Agency and the German Pension Insurance].

OBJECTIVE: The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) and the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung, DRV) are the major institutions responsible for vocational rehabilitation (VR) in Germany. The following paper compares the characteristics of persons in vocational rehabilitation and the utilization of rehabilitation services between those two institutions and presents short-term developments.

METHODS: Administrative data of the BA and the DRV were made comparable. The study analyses persons who have completed VR between 2011 and 2015.

RESULTS: We observe an increased use of VR services for both the BA and the DRV. Furthermore, the results show an absolute and proportional increase in persons being employed at the time of approval of VR and in persons receiving technical assistance. The clients of the BA are younger and better educated than the clients of the DRV. The clients of the DRV are more frequently employed at time of approval and receive mainly technical assistance.

CONCLUSIONS: Though due to different regulatory responsibilities, BA and DRV clients in VR differ particularly in age, we observe comparable developments in the populations addressed and the interventions provided.