How Has the Middle Fared in the Netherlands? A Tale of Stagnation and Population Shifts

This chapter sets out how inequality and real incomes across the distribution evolved in the Netherlands from the late 1970s through the economic Crisis. Inequality grew, though not dramatically, while wages showed remarkably little real increase. This meant that real income increases for households relied for the most part on the growth in female labour-force participation and in dual-income couples. The chapter highlights the major changes in population and household structures that underpinned the observed changes in household incomes at different points in the distribution. It also sets out key features of the institutional structures in the labour market and broader welfare state, and the centrality of the priority given to wage moderation and the maintenance of competitiveness in the growth model adopted throughout the period.