From policy to practice: assessing sectoral flexicurity in the Netherlands

The combination of flexibility and security (i.e. flexcicurity) in labour markets has become a pivotal feature of the European Commission’s view on the reform of labour markets across Europe. In this view, the Netherlands is seen as an ‘example of flexicurity’, mainly because of its adoption of the 1999 Law on Flexibility and Security. Because this law allows for deviation within collective agreements, we argue that this is the most appropriate unit of analysis when analysing flexicurity outcomes. We focus on three aspects of the F&S Law: notice periods, trial periods, and the use of fixed-term contracts. We analyse collective agreements at sector-level and find that the flexicurity-balance in these three aspects tilts towards the flexibility side. As a next explorative step we use some sector-characteristics to explain the flexicurity balance within sectors: business cycle sensitivity, openness to competition, scarcity of labour, and union strength. These four factors show a more diffused impact on the flexicurity balance than we hypothesize.