ABSTRACT
The institutions of the Dutch labor market can best be described as a mature welfare state. The prospects of the Dutch welfare state in general, and the Public Assistance program in particular strongly depend on the developments in the global economy. The Dutch social system came into trouble in the 1970s when several oil crises hit the world economy, leading to a worldwide recession. Social insurance schemes were unable to deal with huge macro problems. The Dutch population has, to a growing extent, discovered the opportunities that its government has offered, to receive social transfers in many different ways. The chapter describes the developments with respect to sickness leave, disability and unemployment and considers how Dutch politics has treated the problems during the 1980s and the early 1990s. Many of the new policies seemed to contradict the intentions of the initial social welfare policy makers.
