Unemployment became a problem in the Netherlands in the early 1980s, but the country managed to successfully bring down the high rates of joblessness. How?

Midget40

The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have experienced a major decline in unemployment rates since the early 1980s. Over the same period, there was also a strong decline in non-employment rates. Since in most other countries of the European Union such declines did not occur there is something of an unemployment miracle in both countries. Combinations of supply-oriented policies causing a significant reduction of equilibrium unemployment rates in both countries are responsible for this. http://ideas.repec.org/a/cpp/issued/v26y2000is1p201-220.html May 01 09, 11:00 AM

author

One of the most striking labour market developments over the past decade is the huge decline in unemployment in the Netherlands. Whereas in the early 1980s the Dutch unemployment rate was as high as 12% and in the early 1990s it was still as high as 8%, it fell to 2% in the early 21st century. There are several explanations for this development. According to Van Ours (2003), the decline in unemployment has to do with wage moderation, restructuring of the social security and part-time labour. So changes in labour market institutions are responsible for the improvement in the functioning of the Dutch labour market. In other OECD countries unemployment has gone down substantially as well. http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:oyUtlYsbIKAJ:www.ifo.de/DocCIDL/dicereport2-03-forum-1.pdf+decline+in+unemployment+rates+since+the+early+1980s.+netherlands&cd=5&hl=no&ct=clnk&gl=no May 01 09, 3:52 PM

triviapaul

This is a good starting-off point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder_Model "The Dutch polder model is characterised by the tri-partite cooperation between employers' organizations such as VNO-NCW, labour unions such as the FNV, and the government [...] This polder model, combined with an economic policy of privatisation and budget cuts has been held to be responsible for the Dutch economic miracle of the late 1990s. An important role in this process was played by the Dutch Central Planning Bureau [...] (whose) policy advice [...] in favour of wage restraint, was an important argument, supportive for government and employers, that the unions could not easily counter." May 02 09, 4:18 AM