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A sign of the benefits such openness can bring: The Netherlands is the world's second-largest agricultural exporter, after the United States. The origin of the Polder Model in its modern form was an economic crisis in 1982: Amid high unemployment and stagflation, government ministers sat down with unions and industry leaders, and brokered a deal in which unions agreed to wage restraints and ended strikes in exchange for employment guarantees. The Dutch economy, the fifth largest among the 17 eurozone countries, has been among the best-performing among industrial nations since then. According to IMF figures, it grew more than 1 percent per year faster than Sweden, France or Germany from 1990-2007, and slightly faster than the U.S.
-- but not quite as fast as Britain. Greece and Spain grew faster initially buoyed by the introduction of the euro, but their economies have since collapsed. Major credit rating agencies say the Netherlands remains one of Europe's few triple-A rated economies, although Standard & Poor's this month repeated a negative outlook. To help the Dutch government keep a handle on its finances, the first meeting between labor unions, employers' associations and the new Cabinet in December yielded at least one concrete agreement. The government said it would devote euro100 million ($133.5 million) to job retraining programs mostly for laid-off adults 55 years and older, currently the group having the most difficulty finding work, but also for unemployed youth and workers in the hard-hit construction sector. Jose Kager, spokeswoman for an umbrella group of Dutch labor unions, said that the move was partly symbolic, given that workers stand to lose 10 times that much in long-term unemployment benefits under the governments' current plans. But she said the talks will continue. Unions are not seeking to preserve all jobs, but rather to get the government and employers to agree to stop over-use of temporary contracts
-- which she said deprives workers of their shrinking safety net. "It's always better to have a seat at the table," she said.
[Associated
Press;
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