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Aims: To (1) describe the child- and context-focused behaviors of physical and occupational therapists, and (2) compare the behaviors of therapists in a standard therapy session with those of therapists trained to deliver child- and context-focused services. Method: Videos of 49 therapy sessions provided by 36 therapists were analyzed using the intervention domains of the Paediatric Rehabilitation Observational measure of Fidelity (PROF) to examine the therapeutic behaviors of physical and occupational therapists with young children with cerebral palsy (CP) (24 to 48 months) in a Dutch rehabilitation setting. The PROF ratings of 18 standard therapy sessions were compared with the ratings of 16 child- and 15 context-focused therapy sessions. Results: Therapists who provided standard therapy demonstrated a mix of child- and context-focused behaviors. PROF ratings indicated fewer child- and context-focused behaviors during standard therapy sessions compared with sessions where therapists were instructed to use either child- or context-focused behaviors. Conclusions: A sample of Dutch physical and occupational therapists of young children with CP demonstrated a mix of child- and context-focused therapy behaviors during standard therapy. Further research is recommended on clinical reasoning and the effect of setting to better understand therapists’ use of child- and context-focused behaviors during therapy sessions.

PurposeDuring recent years, the Dutch labour market has developed from a buyers' market into a sellers' market. Consequently employers had to increase their efforts to find suitable staff. This paper aims to analyse the instruments employers use to contact with potential workers. To what extent do employers still rely on traditional means like advertisements in the paper or do they behave more actively, using the world wide web, visiting job fares et cetera.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a survey among more than 1,000 employers in The Netherlands. Factor analyses and regression analyses are carried out to explain different recruitment strategies.FindingsThe factor analyses show that the different recruitment methods can be traced back to three recruitment strategies. The first strategy was described as active and informal recruitment. The second strategy was called recruiting via the internet and the third is characterised by formal recruitment. The results suggest that many organisations – not in the least organisations in the local government sector – could gain a great deal from using a wider range of instruments to recruit new personnel.Originality/valueThe paper analyses the instruments used by employers in search for potential workers.

Research from the United States consistently shows that female‐dominated occupations generally yield lower wages than male‐dominated occupations. Using detailed occupational data, this study analyses the size and causes of this occupational gender wage‐gap in the Dutch labour market using multi‐level modelling techniques. The analyses show that both men and women earn lower wages if they are employed in female‐dominated occupations. This especially indicates the significance of gender in Western labour markets, since overall levels of wage inequality are relatively small in the Netherlands compared to, for example, the United Kingdom and the United States. Differences in required responsibility are particularly important in accounting for this occupational wage‐gap. Nonetheless, we find large wage penalties for working in a female‐dominated instead of a male‐dominated occupation for occupations that require high levels of education, skills, and responsibility.

This article addresses employers' attitudes and actions regarding the position of older workers. A comparative survey among employers from four European countries — Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom — is used to examine their expectations with respect to the ageing of the workforce, the productivity of older workers and their recruitment and retention behaviour regarding this cohort. The results show that in spite of the perceived challenges ahead (including the ageing workforce), employers take no substantial measures to retain and recruit older workers or improve their productivity. Only employers in the United Kingdom seem to recognize older workers as a valuable source of labour supply and act accordingly.

Compared to other industrialized countries, the U.S. spends most of all on health care. Nonetheless, the U.S. ranks relatively low on health care indicators. This paradox has been already known for decades. For example, the turning point comparing the U.S. and Canada was in 1972. Health expenditure as a percentage of GDP was higher in Canada than in the USA from 1960 until 1972. Since 1972 expenditure on health care has been higher in the U.S. than in Canada (OECD 2005a, Health data 2005, fourteenth OECD electronic database on health systems, date of release June 2005, last update 04/26/2005). The present study integrates the dispersed literature on spending and health care rankings and adds some statistical analysis to these studies. The evaluation of different factors influencing health care expenditure in the U.S. relative to other countries is restricted to a comparison with Canada. The U.S. and Canada are two countries that are sufficiently similar to make comparisons useful. The comparison of factors influencing health care expenditure in the U.S. and Canada in 2002 reveals that health care expenditure in the U.S. is higher than in Canada mainly due to administration costs, Baumol’s cost disease and pharmaceutical prices. It is not primarily inefficiency in health care production but the dominant prevalence for free choice and own responsibility that explains the paradox of high expenditure on health care and low ranking on health care indicators.

In this thesis we investigate how today’s work and family life influence people’s happiness – or the lack thereof. We contribute to the research agenda by focusing on three underexplored issues in the literature, namely i) interdependencies within families, ii) life events, and iii) time allocation decisions. Using data of the Dutch Time Competition Survey 2003 and the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984 – 2005 (GSOEP), this thesis shows that the happiness of partners in marital relationships is interdependent, explains why parents become unhappier after the birth of the first child, and reveals that the hours that people spend on paid work and household work matter greatly for their happiness, as is the time pressure that is connected with it. Additionally, this thesis provides further insight into the factors that shape time allocation decisions within families which are – as this research shows – an important source of people’s happiness. It demonstrates that people’s jobs and organizations have a major effect on the division of labour between partners at home. The effect of this work context, however, is dependent on the formal and informal rules and strategies that employees use at work and at home to manage or ‘govern’ their time.

This thesis estimates equivalence scales for Indonesia, proposes a new type of test of the life-cycle model, shows how important economic and demographic characteristics of Dutch households evolve over age, cohorts and time, and studies the decision problem to when and how much to work, save and consume. The global theme of this thesis is applied micro-econometrics where economic theory is combined with survey data of individuals to understand behavior and opinions. However, a large part of this thesis is devoted to a relatively new and important topic in economics: combining revealed preferences and stated preferences data in one unifying economic framework. Traditionally, economics has relied on the theory of revealed preferences to draw conclusions about individual preferences and interests. If a child is offered a choice between an apple and a chocolate bar, it reveals its preference by choosing one instead of the other. Whereas this methodology is incredibly powerful, in some cases it just does not suffice. 1. Actions may be obstructed: borrowing constraints prevent individuals to reveal their preferences for borrowing money. 2. Preferences do not predict action more generally: opinions, memories, ideas. 3. Observed actions may be consistent with many competing theories of behavior. 4. People make inconsistent choices: people smoke or drink too much, or do not going to the gym, whereas in fact they would like to cut down on bad behavior and do more sports. In these and perhaps other situations stated preferences data can be useful. By asking the right questions, economists may be able to tease out preferences for borrowing, the most appropriate theory of behavior, or whether people actually would like to go to the gym or not. This thesis contributes to the important research agenda that incorporates different kinds of data to ultimately reach a better truth. It employs direct questions on economic wellbeing of households in combination with observed patterns of demand for food and nonfood to estimate equivalence scales, a key tool for making welfare comparisons between households. Further, this thesis employs questions about changes in economic wellbeing of individuals in an empirical test of the life-cycle model. The test has two clear advantages over conventional tests based on revealed preferences data. First, the test is able to discriminate between different theories that predict the same, or almost the same, behavior. Second, the test does not lose power from the simultaneous estimation of model parameters and test statistics. Finally, this thesis offers a few leads for developing new ways of interpreting satisfaction data in economic science.

This thesis is framed against the backdrop of a persistent gendered labour pattern in the Netherlands. Given that the majority of Dutch women work less than three days per week whereas most men work full-time, the gender gap in work-hours in the Netherlands is larger than anywhere else in the developed world. Its flipside is that women carry out most housework and kin-care. This gendered labour pattern leads to substantial gender inequalities in terms of income, and institutional, political, and corporate representation. Given women’s increased access to higher education, newly drawn legal barriers against sex-discrimination, and the decreased birth rate in the past decades, the adage of ‘education, occupation, and family-formation’ is insufficient to explain the persistence of gendered labour patterns. This is why the present study addresses intergenerational transfers as a complementary explanation for gender differences in paid and unpaid labour to the conventionally studied individual, couple- and household characteristics. We explore three kinds of intergenerational transfers: behavioural role modelling, resource transfers, and upward and downward transfers of instrumental support. Based on data of the nationally representative Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, the empirical findings of this study suggest that several intergenerational transfers indeed contribute to explain men’s and women’s labour patterns. Firstly, the findings suggest that men and women partly model their contributions to housework in adulthood upon their same-sex parent’s contributions to housework in childhood. The more fathers contributed to housework, the more sons contribute to housework today, and we find the same pattern among women. Secondly, the findings suggest that women who were raised by working mothers work more hours compared to women who were raised by homemaking mothers. We attribute this finding to the role model and the various resources that working mothers transfer. Thirdly, we find that mothers of young children participate more often on the labour market and work more hours when they receive help with routine housework from grandparents. Yet some intergenerational transfers of instrumental support appear to be unrelated to women’s and men’s labour patterns. We find no indication that practical help with childcare received from grandparents stimulates the labour force participation or increases the work-hours of parents of young children. Additionally, our results suggest that members of dual worker couples in midlife do not scale back their work-hours when they provide practical help to elderly parents, nor that they are less likely to provide such help the more hours they work. In the final chapter we discuss this study’s research contributions, policy implications, and suggestions for future research.

The main purpose of the thesis was to examine the importance of personality and perceptions of leadership for the development of burnout and occupational self-efficacy. Data was collected from two sources: by questionnaire from middle managers in the public sector involved in the formulation and implementation of a national strategy and from the Office of National Statistics (UK). Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test a series of hypothesized relationships and interactions. The three personality traits considered - conscientiousness, neuroticism and work locus of control, were found to be important factors in the development of burnout and of occupational self-efficacy. Conscientiousness and work locus of control were found to be negatively related to burnout and its three components while neuroticism was found to be positively related. Work locus of control and neuroticism were found to be of similar importance in the prediction of burnout. The findings also supported the role of the three personality traits as moderators in the relationship between job demands and burnout. All three personality traits were found to significantly predict occupational self-efficacy. Conscientiousness and work locus of control were found to be positively related and neuroticism was negatively related. The quality of the individual’s leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship with their manager and their communication frequency were also found to be significant predictors of burnout and occupational self-efficacy. LMX was negatively related to burnout and positively related to occupational self-efficacy. Unexpectedly communication frequency was found to be positively related to burnout with a curvilinear relationship. Moreover, LMX and communication frequency were found to interact in the prediction of burnout. As expected communication frequency was found to have a positive linear relationship with occupational self-efficacy which was fully mediated by LMX. The personality of individuals was found to be more important than the quality of their relationship with their superior for the development of both burnout and occupational self-efficacy however, LMX was found to either fully, or partially, mediated the relationship between each of the personality traits and burnout and occupational self-efficacy. Occupational self-efficacy was found to be an important predictor of burnout. A hypothesized three-way interaction between occupational self-efficacy, conscientiousness and work locus of control was found to significantly predict burnout. The study meets the calls for further research into whether personality plays a meaningful role in the development of burnout and provides an additional study to the limited number of previous studies. The findings also demonstrate the importance of the social context of the work place for employee well-being and the important role that leaders play through the quality of relationships with employees and the quality and amount of feedback and support they provide. Strengths and limitations of the study are reviewed, recommendations for future research proposed and practical implications of the findings for organizations, managers and individuals are discussed.

This thesis provides empirical evidence on financial skills and the relation with household financial decision-making based upon specially designed questions for the DNB Household Survey (DHS). The majority of the respondents has some grasp of concepts such as interest compounding, inflation, and the time value of money. However, very few go beyond these basic concepts; many households do not know the difference between bonds and stocks, the relationship between bond prices and interest rates, and the basics of risk diversification. The empirical estimates reveal that financial sophistication has a statistically and economically significant impact on private wealth holdings. This is important for public policy, especially in view of the widespread fear that many households do not save enough for retirement. Indeed, we also show that financial sophistication fosters planning for retirement. At the same time, we find that financial knowledge increases the likelihood of entering the stock market, thereby improving opportunities to diversify and taking advantage of the equity premium, which might contribute to better portfolio management and higher wealth as well. This finding contributes to the literature which tries to understand the puzzle of limited stock market participation by focusing on participation costs, as higher levels of financial sophistication lower the costs of collecting and processing information and reduce the relevance of barriers to participation. The same mechanism lowers thresholds to engage in retirement planning activities. Given the important role of financial literacy in decision-making, we can ask ourselves whether we can make decision tasks simpler, e.g. by offering helpful default options (i.e. the choice that follows when no specific action is taken). We investigate the impact of financial literacy and other personal traits on the attractiveness of default options in many situations including e.g. voting participation, having a will, and organ donation, but with a special focus on retirement savings decisions in the Netherlands as well as in the US (based upon data from the RAND American Life Panel). Our results show that default options indeed matter for individual decision-making and that procrastination and financial illiteracy are important determinants of default choices. As financial literacy is limited, one could wonder how households assess the international trend towards more individual responsibility for e.g. retirement. We find that the majority of Dutch employees opposes to changes that provide them with more individual responsibility for their pension provisions. The unwillingness to take investor autonomy might partly be related to a resistance towards changing the status quo, which is that employees in the Netherlands have no direct say in the investment policy of pension funds. Nevertheless, the willingness of employees to take control over their own pension savings correlates in an intuitive way to their risk tolerance, which is especially low in the pension domain, and their self-assessed level of financial literacy. Indeed, Dutch employees recognize their limitations as regards financial decision-making, and an experiment on choices in a hypothetical defined contribution retirement plan corroborates this self-assessed lack of financial skills.

International risk-sharing is one of the most important benefits from the process of international financial integration, which gained in speed, scope, and geographical coverage during the past decades. As long as different national economies are not perfectly correlated, there are possibilities for risk-sharing through cross-border trade in assets and goods. By pooling risk in a larger, global (capital) market, the residents in these economies can diversify the idiosyncratic, country-specific portion of the risk they face, thereby obtaining additional welfare gains that are not available within their national borders. However, alternative approaches suggest different conclusions with respect to the degree of cross-country risk-sharing that actually takes place. While macroeconomic methods, based on consumption and output series, suggest rather limited risk-sharing, asset pricing models, based on asset-markets excess returns, imply very high degrees of actual international risk-sharing. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the extent to which risk-sharing takes place across countries using macroeconomic and financial approaches, and present the evidence in a compact/synthetic framework. The introductory chapter is followed by an empirical investigation of the role of workers’ remittances as an alternative channel of international (consumption) risk-sharing. It shows that developing countries with above-average levels of workers’ remittances per capita also experience relatively smaller deviations from perfect risk-sharing, though this effect is statistically significant only for the group of transition economies. Focusing on one of the core indicators of the financial integration process, chapter 3 suggests that the rejection of the uncovered interest parity (UIP) condition might be limited to the conventional tests and related to a specific type of estimation bias. Though the empirical analysis provides evidence about the importance of this bias, it does not completely resolve the UIP puzzle. Chapters 4 and 5 present some limitations of the stochastic discount factor (SDF) approach to international risk-sharing. First, the measures for marginal utility growth crucially depend on the country with the highest stock market excess returns (highest Sharpe ratios). Second, the SDF approach “automatically” leads to perfect risk-sharing in episodes of fixed or very rigid nominal exchange rates. In contrast to the asset-markets-based SDF approach, chapter 6 builds upon an international real-business-cycle macroeconomic model. Using data for the Eurozone countries, it demonstrates that the nominal exchange rate is the main reason for one of the central puzzles in international macroeconomics – the Backus-Smith puzzle. In an attempt to sublimate the evidence from macroeconomic and financial (asset pricing) models, chapter 7 documents a broad “disconnect” and a “dichotomy” between the macroeconomic and the asset component of the real exchange rate. Irrespective of the numerous differences, all approaches reach at least one common conclusion – the (real) exchange rate plays a pivotal role in all measures for international risk-sharing. In fact, it seems to “drive” the risk-sharing results, largely overshadowing the importance of the co-movement among the underlying consumption and asset markets fundamentals. In turn, this thesis concludes that a common ground between the different approaches might be sought in a clear separation along the dichotomy lines. Finally, this thesis suggests that different measures for international risk-sharing might be used in evaluating the benefits and formulating policy steps for countries that desire (further) integration into the global capital market: policy recommendations might rely more on macroeconomic evidence in fixed/rigid nominal exchange rate regimes and probably more on asset markets measures in freely floating nominal exchange rate regimes.

This work is a search for deeper understanding of established differences and similarities among compared legal systems. The application of economically inspired optimal model rule as a uniform term of comparison provides additional insights into some of the most often discussed legal issues. The assessed topics of pre-contractual duties of disclosure, the phenomena of unforeseen contingencies and the unilateral termination of contracts has triggered the attention of both legal and the law and economics’ scholars and are generally considered as one of the several persisting legal puzzles. While surveying law and economics’ literature and systematizing into the economically inspired optimal model rules used as uniform terms of comparisons the real driving force behind legal changes appear as evident. The fruitfulness of approach appears in the objective evaluation framework which enabled all consequent results. Analysis shows that in all three comparative essays following conclusions appear repeatedly in an unprecedented form. (1) All three assessments reveal that compared legal systems differ less than comparatists tend to believe. (2) Provided comparisons surprisingly reveal a growing trend from inefficient towards efficient legal practices. In other words, assessments reveal that legal systems invariably tend towards efficiency. (3) All comparisons reveal wealth maximization as the main driving force behind the judicial decision making. (4) In all examinations economically inspired optimal model rule provides an objective framework for explaining inconsistencies or similarities, and an objective justification for certain statutory provisions or decisions, where doctrinal justification failed. (5) All assessments also offer path for statutory reform. Upon those findings one may argue that indeed the main driving force behind legal changes in contract law is the economics, i.e. the wealth maximization. Moreover, the economically inspired objective evaluation method enriches traditional comparative contract law by enabling further qualitative assessment, previously left to the subjective intuitions or even to a majoritarian voting of comparatists. It offers ample opportunities for further research and for “better” law making, legislation and jurisprudence. Actually, it enables comparative contract law to offer clear-cut, objective recommendations on the possible improvements of legal rules or decisions, and to provide an objective, from national law separated evaluation on which law, doctrine and decision is a “better” one.

Some parts of the world are clearly more developed than others. Not only do large disparities in economic prosperity persist between countries; also between regions in the same country, or between cities in the same region large differences in welfare are often the rule rather than the exception. Geographical economics – the study of where economic activity takes place, and why – offers theoretical explanations for these observed spatial patterns of economic development and explains how economic activity in one place may influence that in another. This thesis assesses the empirical relevance of these theories. It identifies, discusses, and offers solutions to, some of the problems involved when taking the insights from geographical economic theory to the data. Using data at various geographical scales and employing different econometric techniques, it shows the relevance of geographical economic theory in understanding such diverse issues as the differences in economic success between Sub-Saharan African countries, the observed increase in regional inequality in South Africa after the end of the Apartheid regime, and the long-term effects of the heavy destruction during World War II on West German cities.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine what kinds of Dutch organisations offer their employees a choice in the composition of their benefits with the aid of a theoretical model that incorporates insights from rational choice theory, the theory of institutional pressures and the bundles of human resource management (HRM) theory. Design/methodology/approach To test the theoretical model data were collected from nearly 600 Dutch organisations in the market sector. Multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were used to analyse these data. Findings The research showed that flexible benefit plans (FBPs) are widespread and show a considerable degree of consistency in the options they offer. FBPs are most likely to be offered by organisations that have freedom to manoeuvre in their benefits, that witness other organisations around them offering such arrangements, and that offer HRM policies and practices that are strongly focussed on the combination of work and family, and on flexibility in working arrangements. Research limitations/implications Attention to HRM policies in addition to a combination of rational choice and institutional theory proved valuable in explaining the uptake of a new arrangement, and this merits further exploration. Practical implications FPBs offer Dutch organisations the opportunity to give their employees more choice in the way they are paid, and to adjust this pay to their personal situation. Offering this choice fits in with a family‐friendly HRM structure and increases flexibility for both parties. Originality/value The paper provides useful information on FBPs.

W niniejszym artykule autorzy przed­staw­iają oparty na empirii model depar­ta­mentu zarządza­nia zasobami ludzkimi (ZZL), który wyjaś­nia dzi­ała­nia i kry­te­ria oceny dzi­ałów ZL z per­spek­tywy menedżerów. Model stwor­zony został w opar­ciu o eksplo­racyjne bada­nia aus­tri­ac­kich menedżerów. Detal­icznie i sys­tem­aty­cznie opisuje warunki dele­gowa­nia odpowiedzial­ności na pra­cown­ików dzi­ałów ZL oraz iden­ty­fikuje odpowied­nie kry­te­ria uży­wane przez menedżerów do ich oceny. Model zes­pala funkcjon­alne i insty­tucjon­alne pode­jś­cie do ZZL i ofer­uje zróżni­cow­ane wyjaśnienia przy­czyn kry­tyki dzi­ałów personalnych.

Demografische ontwikkelingen leiden ertoe dat werkgevers steeds vaker te maken zullen krijgen met werknemers die hun betaalde werk combineren met zorgtaken.Werknemers zullen in toenemende mate ruimte eisen om die zorgtaken ook op een adequate wijze te kunnen vervullen. Dat stelt werkgevers voor nieuwe uitdagingen in hun personeelsbeleid. In dit artikel worden de eerste uitkomsten gepresenteerd van een enquête onder werkgevers naar hun gedrag en hun opvattingen rond de combinatie van arbeid en zorg. Demographic developments will confront increasing numbers of employers with the necessity to deal with employees who want to balance work and private life. This faces employers with a series of new challenges in their personnel policies. This article report on the outcomes of a survey among Dutch employers and their behaviour and opinions with respect to the reconciliation of work and family life.

Nederlandse vrouwen zijn in toenemende mate actief op de arbeidsmarkt. Toch zien we bij opeenvolgende cohorten nauwelijks verschil in het aantal uren dat zij werken: deeltijds was en is het parool. Dat laatste lijkt vooral samen te hangen met het feit dat het aantal uren dat vrouwen werken in de loop der jaren niet minder afhankelijk is geworden van hun gezinsomstandigheden.

De vergrijzing van de Nederlandse beroepsbevolking schrijdt in rap tempo voort en steeds meer werkgevers worden ook binnen hun eigen organisatie met die vergrijzing geconfronteerd. Uit de hier gepresenteerde resultaten van een steekproefonderzoek onder arbeidsorganisaties blijkt dat volgens veel werkgevers verdere vergrijzing van het personeelsbestand vooral kosten met zich meebrengt. Op het punt van de baten heeft men geen hoge verwachtingen. Het personeelsbeleid ten opzichte van oudere werknemers kan vooral worden gekarakteriseerd als ‘ontzie’-beleid: oudere werknemers mogen meer en hoeven minder. Dit beleid drijft de kosten van de vergrijzing van het personeelsbestand alleen nog maar verder op. Maatregelen om de baten te vergroten – bijvoorbeeld via investeringen in het menselijk kapitaal van oudere werknemers – worden slechts in beperkte mate genomen. Oudere werknemers worden nauwelijks beschouwd als een remedie tegen de (dreigende) schaarste aan personeel die voor steeds meer organisaties werkelijkheid wordt.

Ontziebeleid ten aanzien van oudere werknemers stuit op veel ongenoegen. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van het Nederlands Interdisciplinair Demografisch Instituut. Organisaties gaan verschillend om met oudere en jongere werknemers die niet aan de eisen voldoen. Jongeren worden vaak ontslagen, ouderen worden meestal gedoogd.

Flexible benefits were first offered by Dutch organisations in the late 1980s. In a flexible benefit plan, employers give their employees the opportunity to change the composition of their benefits, so that the employees can choose those benefits that suit them best. The opportunities to sell or buy time off, particularly, make this arrangement interesting from a Work-Family point of view. We researched who participated in the flexible benefits plan, and who used the plan to adjust the balance between money and time off in their pay amongst employees of a Dutch university . We focused on the effects of the household and work situation on these choices, in order to examine whether flexible benefits can help employees to better combine work and household. Participation in the FBP turned out to be high. Employees in these organisations mostly opted to sell their leave, very few people used the FBP to acquire more free time. Both household and job characteristics influenced participation in the flexible benefits plan, and the choice to sell time off. A flexible benefit plan gives employees the option tochange the composition of their pay to their personal preferences and it is clearly being used by employees of this university.

In dit artikel wordt voor de Europese landen (de EU-15) de instituties en regelingen in kaart gebracht die een betere combinatie arbeid en zorg mogelijk moeten maken. Deze instituties en regelingen hebben betrekking op tijd (flexibele werktijden en verlofregelingen), geld (belastingsystemen) en voorzieningen (voorzieningen voor kinderopvang). Voor een eerlijker verdeling van arbeid- en zorgtaken blijkt het nodig dat er goede nationale regelingen bestaan voor kinderopvang, ouderschapsverlof, levensloopregelingen, het recht op parttime werk etcetera. Deze regelingen zijn vooral van belang bij het zetten van de eerste stappen op weg naar een rechtvaardiger verdeling: mannen zullen binnenshuis meer taken op zich kunnen nemen, vrouwen zullen hierdoor meer buitenshuis kunnen gaan werken.

Even though the Dutch working week has become shorter and more diverse over the last decades, not all employees weekly working hours preferences are fulfilled. Time and again, cross-sectional studies among employees reveal dissatisfaction with working hours. However, only part of the employees that are dissatisfied with their working hours manage to adjust their hours to their preferences. A wide gap apparently exists between preferring to adjust working hours and actually adjusting them. The gap is widest for employees who would like to reduce their working hours. In this article three questions are addressed. What is the pattern of transition from wanting to adjust working hours to actually doing so? Which categories of employees can be expected to reduce working hours? Which categories of employees can be expected to realise their preference for working fewer hours? We will answer these questions using panel data for the period 1986-1998. We find that for many employees, in spite of the broad acceptance in the Netherlands of part-time employment and the excellent arrangements entailed around it, it is still difficult for employees to realise their preferences. This leaves little optimism for the opportunities of employees in other European countries. In these countries part-time employment is often marginal employment and the labour market is less equipped for it. It will ask a major effort from many European policy makers to offer other European employees at least the same possibilities as are already available to Dutch employees.

In dit artikel komen werkgevers aan het woord over wat zij nu en in de toekomst als de belangrijkste arbeidsmarktknelpunten beschouwen. De door werkgevers gemelde knelpunten en beleidsprioriteiten wijken in tal van opzichten flink af van de Haagse politieke agenda.

The economics of an ageing population. Macroeconomic issues

Gesprekken in Nederland over de transitionele arbeidsmarkt en het levensloopbeleid vooronderstellen dat in de toekomst vaker sprake zal zijn van kortstondige en/of partiële loopbaanonderbrekingen. Werknemers zullen, aldus deze vooronderstelling, vaker hun betaalde loopbaan afwisselen met perioden van zorg, scholing of kortdurende werkloosheid. Daarmee zullen periodes van nonparticipatie niet langer het exclusieve domein zijn van vrouwen die voor hun kinderen zorgen maar een integraal onderdeel worden van de levensloop van steeds meer individuen (SER, 2005). De discussie over dergelijke loopbaanonderbrekingen wordt goeddeels gevoerd zonder een duidelijk inzicht in de gevolgen ervan. Met het voorliggende onderzoek wordt ten minste voor een deel in deze kennislacune voorzien. In deze studie over loopbaanonderbrekingen wordt kritisch gekeken naar de niet-geïnstitutionaliseerde vorm. Dat wil zeggen, het niet participeren in betaalde arbeid (status inactief) en naar periodes van werkloosheid. Daarbij staat de volgende vraag centraal: hoe beïnvloeden recente perioden van nonparticipatie de kans op het verrichten van betaald werk en – voor zover individuen met een nietcontinue arbeidsloopbaan momenteel betaald werk hebben – hoe beïnvloedt nonparticipatie hun uurloon en hun beroepsstatus.