ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine how the relationship between employment and social protection policies was restructured in Western Europe in the course of the 1990s. We address the changes that took place on two different levels. First, we analyse the new ideas about the relationship between employment and social security arrangements, as these ideas were expressed through two supranational bodies: the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU). Second, we are interested in the extent to which the new policy discourse on these issues was matched by changes in policy practice in a number of European countries, i.e. the measures and provisions aimed at people out of work.
