Balancing work and welfare: activation and flexicurity policies in The Netherlands, 1980–2000

As a result of the flexibilisation of labour and the trend towards the ‘activating welfare state’, social policies show an increasing interconnection of work and welfare issues. The Netherlands is no exception. It is generally believed that the Dutch welfare state is successfully activating its unemployed labour potential (often referred to as the ‘Dutch Miracle’), and that flexible and part-time work is protected by adequate ‘flexicurity’. This article critically reviews Dutch activation and flexicurity policies. It concludes that there is still more unemployment than the miracle-story suggests; that important target groups of activation policies have not profited from ‘the miracle’; that part-time workers have sufficient social protection but that social security for flex-workers still needs major improvements, despite favourable adjustments of labour law.