Onderwijs en arbeidsmarkt. Poldermodel onder druk: een onderzoek naar de ontwikkeling van menselijk kapitaal
Summary
The aim of this thesis is to study developments with regards to human capital in the Netherlands from the Wassenaar Accords until 2016, in the context of the changes in the labour market. This is done by analyzing two visions on human capital and researching how attitudes to responsibility for human capital in a capitalist economy have shifted over time. This is framed by the Varieties of Capitalism-theory of P. Hall and D. Soskice.
In the first section, literature regarding human capital is analyzed and discussed. The theoretical analysis of the specific organization of the Dutch political economy is discussed here as well. In the second chapter, general political and economic developments from the Wassenaar Accords and onwards are discussed. Here, specific attention is paid to the way the schooling system has developed, and through which impulses changes have been made to it. In the third chapter, two case studies are discussed: a section of the building industry, and a section of secondary education. It analyzes developments within these sectors, with a special focus on the role of the social partners in creating and shaping policy in changing circumstances.
In conclusion, this thesis argues that despite shifts on the micro- and meso-level with regards to responsibility for further schooling and vocational training, on the macro-level, the government as well as the social partners still hold ultimate responsibility over schooling arrangements. As such, though there have been shifts towards a more liberal economic model, at large, in this case the Netherlands still very much has traits of a coordinated market economy.