ABSTRACT
As the Dutch post-war welfare state took shape in the 1950s and 1960s, three things were taken for granted. First, there were going to be jobs for everyone. Due to temporary friction in the labor market or perhaps seasonal fluctuations, at most a few people would be out of work for short periods of time. Second, the social security system was to be linked to employment. Premiums were based on the wage-sum and benefits-rights were related to length of former employment. Third, wages and benefits were almost automatically equated with family income, that is, the income a working man needed to support his wife and children. Nowadays, these three premises are no longer taken for granted. Changes in the employment system and other developments in society have made them obsolete. Studies such as those by Marsden and Duff provide good true-to-life descriptions of the trials and tribulations of unemployed people.
