ABSTRACT
Flexibilization and the resulting rapid growth of atypical jobs reflect a fundamental process of transformation which affects not only economic, but also wider social and cultural aspects of society. Of course economic motives and interests are uppermost, and it can hardly be contested that many atypical jobs in the bottom sector of the labour market are in the best interests of the employer. This chapter describes the general framework of social-economic policy and show how the issue of atypical jobs is strongly connected to the issue of unemployment. The developments in the types of regulation described must be seen partly against the background of the problematic consequences of atypical employment for the security and social participation of citizens. In a European context, the Netherlands is regarded as a country with a very large element of state-subsidised, supplementary employment. The employment relationship is analysed by reference to its degree of a continuous connection between employer and employee.
