Statistical profiling algorithms claiming to predict which jobseekers are at risk of becoming long-term unemployed are spread unevenly across countries. However, the pathways and histories of these tools are understudied. Because the profiling path in France is a winding one, it is fruitful to study the production of profiling acceptability within the Public Employment Service (PES), and upstream of its reception by frontline advisers. Using a mix of interviews and written sources, we show that the production of profiling acceptability sits at the crossroads of two processes: technical and political transformations of the instrument itself and broader institutional and managerial transformations of the PES. On the basis of this case study, the paper enriches our understanding of the slow and incremental rationalization of public services that we have termed “professional rationalization.” We argue that, far from being a softened or moderated form of bureaucratic rationalization, it is powerful—perhaps even irreversible—precisely because it transforms its target (frontline advisers) before the rationalization instrument is even deployed.

中文翻译：

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有争议的政策工具的秘密合法化：法国公共就业服务的统计分析

声称可以预测哪些求职者有长期失业风险的统计分析算法在各国的分布并不均匀。然而，这些工具的途径和历史尚未得到充分研究。由于法国的剖析之路是一条曲折的道路，因此研究公共就业服务局（PES）内部剖析可接受性的产生以及一线顾问的接受上游是富有成效的。通过访谈和书面资料的结合，我们表明分析可接受性的产生位于两个过程的十字路口：工具本身的技术和政治变革以及 PES 更广泛的制度和管理变革。在这个案例研究的基础上，本文丰富了我们对公共服务缓慢而渐进的合理化（我们称之为“专业合理化”）的理解。我们认为，它远不是一种软化或缓和的官僚合理化形式，而是强大的——甚至可能是不可逆转的——正是因为它在合理化工具部署之前就改变了目标（一线顾问）。