The Dutch way: success through consensus

Abstract

"In the 1980s the Netherlands found itself in a more far-reaching crisis than its European neighbours. The essential features of the policy reorientation - essentially wage restraint and reduction of working time, together with the linking of the Dutch Guilder to the D-Mark - have been retained ever since but have been gradually supplemented with stages of reform in the employment and social systems. In the meantime market regulation, privatisation, decentralisation and the linking of the various systems and the public administrations as well as the policy objective of reducing the rate of inactivity and thus of stemming corresponding benefits have come to the fore. This process of constantly and pragmatically modernising the employment and social security systems has been made possible not least by consultation and by the remarkable continuity of decisions taken by all those concerned. In explanation some institutional particularities of the employment system (wage determination process, statutory minimum wage, dismissal protection, flexible employment relationships, labour market policy) and of the social security system (benefits for unemployment, retirement, invalidity, sickness and need) are illustrated. On the whole it has been possible in the Netherlands to improve competitiveness and the employment results as well as to modernise the employment and social security system without giving up the principle of a common basic protection against the large social risks. In section 4 some factors of an economic explanation for the Dutch employment success are discussed; this covers wages, including non-wage labour costs, labour productivity taking into account the reduction in working hours, and macroeconomic growth. In the final section some considerations are made as to what stimulus the Netherlands provide with its set of macroeconomic and structural reform stages over a period of 11/2 decades and which of them could be of particular interest for the Federal Republic of Germany." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Stille, F. (1998): Der niederländische Weg. Durch Konsens zum Erfolg. In: Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Vol. 31, No. 2, p. 294-311.