The Social and Economic Council adopted this advisory report on 20 October 2006. In this report, the Council urges the Dutch Government to encourage an “activating” society in which everyone participates according to his or her means. Achieving this aim will require a major investment in human resources and scope for entrepreneurship. As a result, economic opportunities can be seized and social cohesion improved.

The parties that make up the Social and Economic Council wish to undertake specific employment participation aims that are more ambitious than the level of participation ensuing if policy remains unchanged. According to the Council, this ambitious policy represents a very important guarantee of income protection for vulnerable groups and a way of meeting the cost of the ageing population. It will not be necessary during the next Government term to increase the age at which individuals qualify for their national old-age pension. The same holds for changing the tax deduction on mortgage interest. The Council does favour compensating employers and households for the rising cost of care. 
 

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Table of content 

1. Theme and structure (PDF, 81 kB)
2. Decentralisation: current situation regarding collective agreement structure (PDF, 134 kB)
3. Decentralisation: situation regarding collective agreements and social/labour legislation (PDF, 152 kB)
4. Differentiation: current situation regarding wage formation (PDF, 254 kB)
5. Macro-economic harmonisation of wage bargaining (PDF, 193 kB)
6. The balance between decentralised negotiations and centralised harmonisation (PDF, 125 kB)
7. Universal applicability of collective agreements (PDF, 147 kB)