Why has unemployment in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom fallen so much?

Abstract

The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have experienced a major decline in unemployment rates since the early 1980s. Over the same period, there was also a strong decline in non-employment rates. Since in most other countries of the European Union such declines did not occur there is something of an unemployment miracle in both countries. Combinations of supply-oriented policies causing a significant reduction of equilibrium unemployment rates in both countries are responsible for this