Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken

Over the last 25 years, the Dutch social security system has been revised in many respects. These changes were motivated by growing concerns about its financial sustainability; by the perceived need to modernise the system and to make it less complex in terms of regulation and administration; and by the shift from income protection to activation in social policy objectives. This article first discusses the main revisions that occurred in the Dutch social minimum and social assistance, child benefits, old age and survivors pensions, sickness and disability benefits, unemployment insurance and activation measures. Subsequently, a quantitative analysis of institutional changes indicates that the revisions have not implied a major break with the past. While the Dutch social security system became somewhat more 'Nordic' and less generous, it still is far more extensive than the typical liberal welfare regime. Considering changes in the attainment of the main goals of the schemes security of income, work and well-being, we find both successes and failures. Poverty rates and income inequality in the Netherlands did not alter much since 1985. Labour participation grew and structural unemployment decreased; but these developments can only partially be attributed to the revision of social security. The net effects of the hugely expanded reinsertion programmes were very limited. An inclusive labour market does not seem to be realized yet, least of all for disabled and elderly people. However, the objective life situation of people on benefit improved, and the gap with the working population became smaller. Even so, in the last decade benefit recipients below the age of 65 more frequently report to be unhappy, and more often suffer from various aspects of social exclusion.

Key words: social security, institutional change, labour, income, well-being

Re-integration policy in the Netherlands has been severely criticized. Recently, some have even proposed to liquidate the national public actor responsible for the implementation of this policy. It would not be the first change in the implementation structure. During the last thirty years, reorganizing the implementation structure was the usual answer to criticism. That something might be wrong with the content of the policy has received far less attention. Form was put first and content came second. The results of the changes in implementation structure were poor.
In the course of time the broader concept of active labour market policy was narrowed to re-integration policy. The former also includes measures to prevent unemployment and takes both the supply side and the demand side of the labour market into consideration. In the coming years such a broader approach is badly needed. Demographic changes will cause labour shortages, but at the same time there will be a large group of people who are difficult to employ. The main recommendations are to maintain a national implementation structure for an active labour market policy; to avoid radical changes in the implementation structure; to stimulate vocational training and to evaluate seriously (using an experimental design) what works and what does not work.

Key words: policy implementation, implementation structure, effectiveness, labour market developments

This article describes developments in the labour force participation of women in the Netherlands. The proportion of working women has increased significantly over the last decades, although marital status and level of schooling remain relevant factors in predicting participation. Sex segregation at the labour market is still substantial. The pattern of women working part-time is strongly embedded in Dutch culture and in its institutional settings. This at least partly explains why the number of women in positions at the top is still low. Other relevant explanations in this respect are processes of stereotyping and framing. Opportunities for combining work and care are rather modest in Dutch society, which implies and explains the relative traditional division of tasks between women and men. In its turn, this leads to the phenomenon of only half of the women being economically independent. A system of allowances for low-paid breadwinners discourages the labour force participation of lower-skilled women. Reconsidering this issue in social policy seems adequate. Furthermore, an extension of work/care provisions is needed in order to finalise the process of emancipation of Dutch women.

Key words: Female labour participation, trends, discouraging factors, Netherlands, part-time work

Developments during the first decade of the 21-st century had an impact on the Dutch 'Polder model' of labour relations, wherein consensus between employers, union and the government is stressed. First, national developments - i.e. flexibilisation and individualisation of labour relations - which were initiated in the last decade of the 20-th century, were continued in recent years. Second, spill over effects of European policy initiatives, such as of the harmonisation of European legislation, the introduction of the EMU, and the more autonomous position of the European Court of Justice, had an important impact on national labour relations.
The final result is a tendency towards (continued) polarisation of labour relations wherein the control function of national policies is more and more influenced by the European Community.

Key words: Trend, Polder model of labour relations, flexibilisation, individualisation, Europeanisation of labour relations

This paper presents trends in the quality of work in the Netherlands, and compared these with Europe. Globalisation, technological innovation and a labour market shift towards the service sectors are hypothesized to be main drivers of these trends.
An increase of work intensification, an expected trait of globalisation, is seen in Europe but not in the Netherlands (anymore). The Netherlands was leading in work pressure up till 2000 but rates average on this since then. In addition, there has been an increase in temporary contracts since the nineties, and a recent decrease in job security in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, possibly as an effect of the increase of the service sectors, physical and environmental risks at work, the number of working hours and shift work remained the same or slightly decreased. Social support by supervisors and co-workers is high and recently showed further increase.
Dutch employees are increasingly using the computer and are teleworking. Computer work and teleworking are done much more often in the Netherlands then in Europe as a whole. In the Netherlands computer work is associated with a good quality of work, although the percentage of employees at risk for musculoskeletal problems is increasing because of a steady rise in employees working at the computer for 4-6 or more hours a day.
The quality of work in the Netherlands is considerably higher than the European average. An exception is work-related violence and harassment, which is relatively high in the Netherlands with its large service economy and client contacts. At the European level physical violence is increasing, but recent Dutch data do not show an increase in work-related violence and harassment.

Key words: Trends, quality of work, Netherlands, Europe

Self-managing teams are perceived as socially and economically beneficial. It is therefore important to determine trends in the prevalence of this type of organizational form. Data from six surveys were used to investigate the prevalence of self-managing teams in The Netherlands and Flanders. Due to variations in survey design, neither in the Netherlands nor in Flanders firm conclusions about trends could be drawn. Instead, the data should be considered as indicative. Bearing this in mind, one may cautiously conclude that self-managing teams seem to be used in a large minority of Dutch and Flemish organizations. Whether a more definitive and empirically better grounded answer is possible, is determined by the availability of valid, reliable and longitudinal data, and the extent to which earlier recommendations for measuring the prevalence of self-managing teams are followed.

Key words: self-managing teams, organizational surveys, trends