Publications

Both the use of flexible remuneration systems and financial participation
through share option schemes have increased markedly in the Netherlands in
the 1990s. Generally, employers applaud this development but within the trade
unions there are mixed feelings.

Luxembourg has continued to experience a period of economic growth. The
public debt accounted for 6.7% of GDP in 1997, and projections for 1998 are
in the order of 7.7%. Eurostat calculates a public spending surplus of 1.7%
in 1997 and the state budget for 1998 is virtually balanced. The population
is 418,300 (of whom 142,800 are foreigners), while total employment stood at
224,000 at the end of 1997, of whom 63,200 are cross-border workers.
Unemployment is rising slowly and stood at 3.6% at the end of 1997. The rate
of inflation was 1.4% in 1997.

In November 1997, Luxembourg's Social Institute hosted a debate involving
trade unions and employers on the Government's plan to introduce "dependence
insurance", to cover against becoming dependent through disability, illness
or age.

In November 1997, the general assembly of Luxembourg's sickness insurance
funds decided by a majority vote to raise employers' and employees'
contributions in order to restabilise the budget.

A November 1997 orientation debate on employment policy in Luxembourg's
Chamber of Deputies has prompted several motions. The most important of these
urges the Government to work towards an agreement between the social partners
that contains both the outlines of a framework law on working time and ways
of gradually reducing working hours, to be negotiated through collective or
company-level agreements.

In December 1997, the Italian State Railways signed an agreement with
transport workers' trade unions on the management of redundancies. The
agreement provides for the creation of a fund to deal with redundant staff by
means of "mobility" procedures, the Wages Guarantee Fund, job-security
agreements and early retirement. An important aspect of the agreement was the
mediation by the Government.

In 1997, Italy's GDP increased by 1.7%: although low, this rate of growth was
higher than in 1996. The rate of inflation continued to decrease, falling to
to 1.7% in 1997 (according to the National Institute of Statistics, Istat).
The unemployment rate stood at an average of 12.3% (Istat), which represented
a growth of 0.2 percentage points compared with 1996. However, the
unemployment rate is very different depending on the area: it is particularly
high in the South, where it reaches 22.2%, while it is lower in the Centre
(10.2%) and in the North (7.3% in the North-West and 5.7% in the North-East).
In 1997, the Government's deficit-reduction policies, which received a
particular impetus after 1993, continued, and the public deficit stood at
2.7% of GDP in 1997.

Company agreements reached at Telecom Italian Mobile (Tim) in November 1997,
and at Electrolux Zanussi in December, have focused attention in Italy on
teleworking.

An agreement was signed in December 1997 by management and trade unions at
the Italian metalworking company Wam, covering flexibility, continuing
training and cuts in working hours to 35 hours a week for shiftworkers.

A decree issued by the Labour Minister on 4 December 1997 launched in-company
training for 100,000 young unemployed people in the South of Italy.