The main outcome of the Wassenaar Agreement was the establishment of wage moderation, which, in turn, helped firms to restore profitability and stimulate both investment and employment. 3 Prior to this agreement, the Netherlands had been gripped in a wage-price spiral. However, through this agreement, which considerably diminished wage indexation, a platform for the remarkable turnaround of labour-market performance was created.
In addition, a continuum of supportive policy frameworks aimed at reforming labour market institutions was adopted, thereby ensuring the underpinning of wage moderation. 4 The expansion of the part-time and temporary agency work sector in the Netherlands, combined with the implementation of effective policies, has resulted in both greater flexibility in the labour market, and job certainty for part-time and temporary agency workers.