This project assessed the impact of new public measures to foster mediation of the unemployed into employment. Based on micro- and macroeconomic data effects of mediation vouchers, the delegation of mediation to private firms (§37a SGB III), and the new public personal service agencies (PSA) have been investigated. The project was commissioned by the research institute of the German public employment agencies. The new measures aim at enhancing the efficiency of public mediation, to reduce unemployment duration and to foster employment.The empirical research agenda consisted of a well defined mix of quantitative and qualitative investigations on the level of the unemployed persons, at the institutional level of the public employment agencies and at the macro level. Based on microeconometric non parametric evaluation methods the project assessed the treatment on the treated effect of the new mediation measures. Active labour market policies might determine the employment prospects of non-participants through second effects as well. Therefore macroeconometric evaluations completed the overall assessments. As an additional and integral part of the research project the implementation of the new mediation measures on the level of the 180 public employment agencies had been investigated based on experts opinions and qualitative interviews with mediation experts and the unemployed as well. This part identified best practices and enhanced the understanding of the viewpoint of the unemployed during the process of mediation.