In the mid-1990s officials from labor ministries, trade unions, and employers associations began flocking to the Netherlands. The object of their visits was something called the polder model. This referred not to dikes or land reclamation, but rather the modest but steady economic growth (2.9% per annum between 1993 and 1997) and decreasing unemployment which the Dutch were enjoying. Although up to 25% of the adult population remained inactive, unemployment had declined from 10% in 1982 to less than 4.1% in 1998. Reduced unemployment reflected early retirements, reductions in hours of work, and particularly in the 1990s, the creation of full and part-time jobs. Job creation was spurred by wage moderation, new investment, and programs which targeted youth, unskilled or semiliterate workers, immigrants, and refugees. Although many of the new jobs were part-time positions held disproportionately by women, the Dutch record was better than either the EU average or that of neighboring countries. As Table 8.1 demonstrates, growth in real GDP averaged 2.9% in the Netherlands between 1993 and 1997, but only 2.3% in the EU. In the same period, unemployment in the Netherlands dropped from 6.3% to 5.2% and was expected to be 4.2% in 1999. In contrast, unemployment rates hovered around 8–9% in Germany, 11–12% in France, and 10–11% in the EU (OECD 1998a, 1998b).

The term “model” has typically been reserved for countries like Sweden or Germany. In the former, the ability of the trade unions and the Swedish Social Democrats to define the terms of the postwar bargain and impose their stamp on the welfare state encouraged academics and journalists to talk about a Swedish model.