ABSTRACT
One of the most pressing problems in advanced industrialised societies is the reorganisation of the relationship between the employment system and welfare provisions. After the Second World War and during the golden years of welfare state development, industrialised nations developed a level of functional and normative integration between the three social segments, i.e. employment, family patterns and welfare provisions. Each segment was closely tied to and complemented by the others, leading to a highly integrated framework. The gender division defined the complementary link between the family and employment, the employment-based funding of social security characterised the link between employment and welfare, and the population growth and birth rates were the basis on which the link between welfare and the family was defined.
