"The relevance of occupational welfare (OW) in the Netherlands has shown no stable increase or decrease over the decades since WWII, but rather several waves of importance, varying further between fields of welfare provision. These waves depend on the strong interaction between social partners and the state, as OW provision may be used to compensate for state welfare retrenchment, may result from tripartite policy agreements, and is often facilitated, regulated or even abolished by the state. This report describes the most important developments and debates in OW based on policy documents and research published by the government, social partners and scholars, as well as collective agreements and interviews. It examines in more detail the specific fields of occupational unemployment protection and occupational pension funds, the latter by far the most extensive form of OW in the Netherlands, the main debates surrounding them, and their effects on redistribution and inequality."

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