The Social and Economic Council ( Dutch: ''Sociaal-Economische Raad'', SER) is a major economic advisory council to the

cabinet of the Netherlands The cabinet of the Netherlands ( nl, Nederlands kabinet) is the main executive body of the Netherlands. The current cabinet of the Netherlands is the Fourth Rutte cabinet, which has been in power since 10 January 2022. It is headed by Prime Min ...

. Formally it heads a system of sector-based regulatory organisations. It represents the social partners

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s and employers' organisations. It forms the core organisation of the

corporatist Corporatism is a collectivist political ideology which advocates the organization of society by corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, on the basis of their common interests. The ...

and social market economy known as the polder model and the main platform for social dialogue.

History

The SER was founded in 1950. It was founded after a long debate about the economic order of the Netherlands. The two main governing parties of the time, the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

(KVP) and the Labour Party (PvdA) had differing opinions on the subject. Both wanted to prevent the repetition of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The Labour Party preferred to grant the government an important regulatory role in the economy, while the KVP preferred to rely on the workings of a self-regulating market economy. A compromise was found in the corporatist model, in which both

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and employers' organisations would form sector-based regulatory organisations. The SER headed this structure and served as important partner for the national government. The SER was very important in the reconstruction of the Netherlands after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In the 1950s and 60s, the SER was particularly successful in ensuring economic growth through close cooperation between government, trade unions and employers' organisations. In the 1970s, because of rising political polarisation and the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had su ...

, the SER was unable to resolve economic problems. In the 1980s the SER returned to the centre of the economic policy making, as it was the platform for dialogue between the government and its social partners. In the 1990s, the role of the SER began to change. The role of the sector-based regulatory organisations began to decline and the SER increasingly took the role of an advisory council of government; in 1997 the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and House of Representatives were granted the right to submit enquiry commissions to the SER.

Goals

The SER has three main goals for Dutch social-economic policy: * To promote balanced and

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate o ...

; * To promote full employment; * To promote a fair income distribution.

Organisation

The SER has thirty-three members. It consists of three sections, which each have eleven members in the council. These sections are trade unions, employers' organisations and government-appointed members, the so-called Crown members. The trade union members are appointed from the three major unions: FNV (8), CNV (2) and the MHP (1). The members of the employers' organisations are representatives from the three major employers' organisations:

VNO-NCW VNO-NCW (known in English as the "Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers") is a Dutch employers' federation founded in 1996 as a merger of the Christian-democratic ''Nederlands Christelijk Werkgeversverbond'' (NCW), which was founded a ...

(7), MKB (3) and the

LTO LTO may refer to: Science and technology * Linear Tape-Open, a computer storage magnetic tape format * Link-time optimization, a technique used by compilers to optimize software * Low Temperature Oxide, a form of silicon dioxide used in microfabri ...

(1). The government-appointed members are normally professors of economics or related fields and they include representatives of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) and the central bank,

De Nederlandsche Bank De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB) is the central bank of the Netherlands. Founded by King William I in 1814, it is part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). De Nederlandsche Bank is a public limited company ( Dutch: '' naamloze vennoot ...

. The board of the SER is formed by four members of each section. The chair of the organisation is always a government appointee. The SER heads and oversees the system of sector-based regulatory organisations. These organisations can like other governments,

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

s, water boards etc. enforce legislation for their members, in this case companies. The SER is financed by levies which companies pay to the

chambers of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

. It spends €14 million a year.

Activities

The group has negotiated among other things, agreements in the textile sector, the banking sector and the gold sector. The SER also performs legal and administrative tasks. For example in the field of employee participation, healthy and safe working, employment inspections and pensions.

List of chairs of the Social and Economic Council

: : : :

Current Members of the Social and Economic Council

Appointed Members of the Social and Economic Council

Trade associations Members of the Social and Economic Council

Trade union Members of the Social and Economic Council

External links

SER official website
{{authority control 1950 establishments in the Netherlands Business organisations based in the Netherlands Dutch political institutions Economy of the Netherlands Government agencies established in 1950 Government-related professional associations Labor in the Netherlands Non-profit organisations based in the Netherlands Industry in the Netherlands Think tanks established in 1950 Think tanks based in the Netherlands Scientific organizations established in 1950 Welfare in the Netherlands