this is particularly important in countries that cannot employ monetary policy for that purpose unemployment benefit replacement rates and duration as uell as social assistance benefits should be set at levels that do not excessively discourage job search and especially where they are relatively generous be made conditional on strictly enforced workavailability criteria as part of welldesigned activation policies moderate benefit sanctions should be part of an activation strategy employment services should offer unemployed workers indepth interviews and jobsearch assistance and participation in active labour market programmes should be compulsory after a certain length of joblessness perormance of employment services should be rewarded on the basis of job placement rates and stability in jobs of reemployed workers active labour market programmes should be regularly assessed to ensure that inefficient programmes are terminated and that the mix of programmes is adjusted to suit the needs of jobseekers and the labour market