Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 1 NL-Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment “New accents in the field of work and income” and SZW Policy agenda November 2004

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 2 Content: 1. The short term 2. The longer term policies

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 3 The short term

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 4 Economic growth

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 5 Development of Employment and Unemployment

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 6 Necessity of wage moderation in order to remain competitive Wage costs per unit product

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 7 Short term: Economic situation: -Low growth -Hardly or no rise of employment -Rising unemployment (to 550 thsnd in 2005) -Deteriorated competitivenes Necessary measures: –Responsible wage development –More dynamic labour market –Reforming the entrepreneurial climate –Improving the climate for innovation

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 8 The longer term

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 9 The Dutch welfare state under pressure: from inside and from outside Ageing Individualisation Internationalisation Technological developments

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 10 Labour Force Participation 1992 and 2003: by age and sex

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 11 Demographic change: Number 65+ per 10 workers

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 12 A more activating social security

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 13 More individual responsibility Higher educated population More families with two income earners More propsperity mannen vrouwen /hoofd

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 14 What to learn from others? More labour market flexibility creates many job opportunities. Adequate social security facilitates labour mobility and an optimal search period ALMP’s with a lot of emphasis on knowledge limits unemployment to a short term period The Danish “golden triangle”

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 15 The Policy Philosophy INCENTIVESINCENTIVES TAIlLORMADETAIlLORMADE SUPPORTSUPPORT PREVENTIONPREVENTION Solidity and solidarity

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 16 New accents in the field of work and income means concretely... Fundamentally recalibrating the social security and labour market, more focused on: Activation: Work should pay!, Improving combinations of work and care, Improving the balance of rights and obligations in social security, training. Individual responsibility: make the individual increasingly responsible for the risks he/she can influence (like unemployment, sickness etc.), through individual saving and or insurances. Meer dynamism: less employment protection.

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid policies Wage moderation Labour market policies Disability legislation (WAO) Unemployment Insurance (WW) Pre- and Early retirement schemes (VUT and prepension), life course arrangement

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 18 Labour market policies From target groups to general policies Removing obstacles for participation, for example the ‘poverty trap’ Additional policies where necessary Increasing the effectiveness of reintegration courses Employing more sheltered employment workers in normal companies More attention to the idea of life long learning

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 19 The headlines in summary: More people longer active in employment Faster switches from benefit into employment Speedier adjustments More individual responsibility

Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid 20 Gouden tijden voor cartoonisten…