Individual experiences with reintegration policies in Denmark and the Netherlands

This working paper analyses individual experiences of different models of labour market reintegration in Denmark and in the Netherlands. The paper has two principal aims. First, to make an analysis of experiences of reintegration at an individual level in the two countries, based on qualitative interviews with Danish and Dutch persons, who have a reduced capacity to work. The second aim is to discuss how the fact that these jobs are very differently constructed both culturally and socially, may be linked to the different political models in the two countries. The Danish model based on a campaign of corporate social responsibility seems to promote an image of these employees as “weak” and their employment as an act of benevolence rather than as a real contribu-tion to the workplace. The Dutch model, where employers are obliged by law to keep employees with a reduced working capacity, seems to socially construct these jobs like “ordinary” part time jobs. The working paper is written by senior researcher, Ph.D. Pernille Hohnen in the unit of the Open Labour Market.