Life-course savings schemes and social policy reform in the Netherlands: on the relationship between the welfare state, social pacts and the management of new social risks

In the Netherlands, a unique though controversial life-course savings scheme (‘levensloopregeling’) will be introduced in January 2006. This paper discusses the origins of this scheme as an example of policy adjustment, which aims to strike a balance between new individual and collective labour relations. It appears that the standardised sequence of education, working and retirement has evolved into an erratic and less-predictable labour market pattern. Accordingly, a change in the nature of external and susceptible risks has occurred. The paper discusses the introduction of the life-course savings scheme, which gained political momentum when the need for cost containment of both the early retirement provisions and wage control were combined, culminating in a broad social pact between the government and social partners. We conclude that the management of social risks should be evaluated not only in terms of the ‘combination scenario’ as a particular form of a transitional labour market model, but also as an indicator for the current reform of the corporatist welfare state.