NL-Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment

1

• NL-Ministry of Social Affairs and
  EmploymentNew accents in the field of work and
  incomeand SZW Policy agenda 2005
• 26 November 2004

2
Content

• The short term
• The longer term
• 2004-2007 policies

3

• The short term

4
Economic growth
5
Development of Employment and Unemployment
6
Necessity of wage moderation in order to remain
competitive

• Wage costs per unit product

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

8

• The longer term

9
The Dutch welfare state under pressure from
inside and from outside
Ageing
Individualisation
Technological developments
Internationalisation
10
Labour Force Participation 1992 and 2003 by age
and sex
11
Demographic change Number 65 per 10 workers
2004
2040
12
A more activating social security
13
More individual responsibility

• Highereducated population
• More families with two income earners
• More propsperity

mannen
vrouwen
/hoofd
14
What to learn from others?

The Danish golden triangle
Adequate social security facilitates labour
mobility and an optimal search period
More labour market flexibility creates many job
opportunities.
ALMPs with a lot of emphasis on knowledge
limits unemployment to a short term period
15
The Policy Philosophy
Solidity and solidarity
I N C E N T I V E S
T A I l L O R M A D E
S U P P O R T
P R EVENTION
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.

17

• 2004-2007 policies
• Wage moderation
• Labour market policies
• Disability legislation (WAO)
• Unemployment Insurance (WW)
• Pre- and Early retirement schemes (VUT and
  prepension),
• life course arrangement

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

19
The headlines in summary

• More people longer active in employment
• Faster switches from benefit into employment
• Speedier adjustments
• More individual responsibility

20
Gouden tijden voor cartoonisten