Business and the Development of Active Labor Market Policies in the the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States

This chapter investigates the development of labor market policies in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. The paper hypothesizes that employer groups are: (a) more likely to support job search assistance than retraining programs, and prefer both to job creation programs; (b) that employers in political economies where they are integrated into the administration of the policies are more likely to support them than otherwise; and (c) that employer support will decline across political economies in the face of liberalizing labor market policy and when unemployment rates rise for a prolonged period. It tests these hypotheses against the historical record.