*Introduction* The period since the mid-1990s has been a highly interesting one for the Netherlands and important questions can be asked about the role of wages and wage bargaining.1 First, after creating a furore in the 1990s the Dutch Miracle quickly lost its shine in the new century as...

The development of the Finnish income inequality from the midU1960s to 2010 can be distinguished into five periods. First, the era of welfare state expansion in the 1960s and the 1970s meant decreasing trend in income inequality for all income concepts (equivalised household factor income, gross...

Against the backdrop of growing income inequalities across industrialized countries, Belgium is a remarkable outlier. While breaks in series and different data sources call for a reasonable degree of caution, there is no indication that disposable household income inequalities among the Belgian...

Disproving fears of a future characterized by ‘jobless growth’, the decade prior to the crisis of 2008 was marked by strong net employment gains, even though many countries failed to achieve the employment targets set within the context of the Lisbon Agenda. Still, just prior to the crisis,...

This article examines inequalities in highbrow cultural participation in 18 countries. It tests whether inequalities in such participation occur because of the status conferred by consumption of high culture, or whether they are more a result of differences in cognitive competencies....

Introduction Fighting poverty has always been at the centre of welfare state activities. There are several important reasons for such a focus but a key issue is no doubt that poverty is associated with increasing risks for ill-health and also death. That at least extreme poverty and poor health...

The Dutch textile and clothing sector is a small economic sector, in which companies are rationalising production and moving it abroad. New production processes have also been introduced. The sector is densely organised with regard to consultation and collective bargaining. The employer...

The decline in trade union membership has been an issue since the 1990tees. Since 1980 and again since 1995 there has been an actual decline in membership rates. Fewer males and young employees are joining the unions, although female membership has increased. Declining membership rates are...

The relevance of the Dutch audiovisual sector in terms of the number of employees is negligible. However, in qualitative terms, the sector is infl uential in Dutch society. The characteristics of collective bargaining are defi ned by the division into public and commercial broadcasting. In...