The Netherlands and the United Kingdom: a European unemployment miracle?

Falling unemployment The Dutch and British cases 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. — Steve Nickell and Jan van Ours