The Netherlands and the United Kingdom: A European Unemployment Miracle?

Journal article

Unemployment rates in both the UK and the Netherlands have declined substantially since the early 1980s. This has been a decline in equilibrium unemployment, the result of combinations of supply-oriented policies. The combinations are partly overlapping and partly differing between the two countries. The main difference is in wage negotiations: where the Dutch unions were already co-operative, British unions were made to co-operate. The main overlap is in the popularity of part-time work and the re-enforcement of financial incentives for work for unemployed workers collecting benefits.

Authors: Nickell, S; Ours, J

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
• Journal: Economic Policy
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 30
• Pages: 135 - 180
• Publication date: 2000-01-01
• DOI: 10.1111/1468-0327.00059
• ISSN: 0266-4658
• Language: English