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Wiemer Salverda

University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

I think it is important that economic policies are based on sound economic evidence. Academic research that has relevance for economic policy should be made accessible for policy makers and a general audience

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Emeritus Professor of Labour Market and Inequality, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Fellow of World Wealth and Income Database WID.world, Paris School of Economics, France

Research interest

Inequality, wages, youth labor market, aging, pensions

Website

https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=QGRpeLcAAAAJ&hl=nl

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

ECFIN Research Fellow, European Commission, 2014–2015

Past positions

General Director, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies AIAS, 2009–2012; Managing Director, AIAS, 2000–2009; Research Manager, Centre for Development Studies CDS, University of Groningen, 1996–2000

Qualifications

PhD Economics, University of Groningen, 1992

Selected publications

  • "Can the Europe Union maintain and improve income inequality?" In: Fischer, G., and R. Strauss (eds). Income, wealth, consumption, wellbeing and inequality in Europe, Chapter 15. Oxford University Press. 2021, 516–569.

  • "Low earnings and their drivers in relation to in-work poverty". In: Lohmann, H., and I. Marx (eds). Handbook of In-Work Poverty. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 2019, 26-49.

  • "The Netherlands: Is the Polder Model behind the curve with regard to growing household income inequality?" In: D. Vaughan-Whitehead (ed.). Inequalities and the World of Work: What Role for Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue? Geneva: International Labour Organization. 2017, 265–303.

  • "Labour-market institutions and the dispersion of wage earnings." In: Atkinson, A. B., and F. Bourguignon (eds). Handbook of Income Distribution Vol. 2B. Amsterdam: Elsevier/North Holland, 2015,1535–1727 (with D. Checchi). [Also published as: http://ftp.iza.org/dp8220.pdf]

  • Changing Inequalities in Rich Countries: Analytical and Comparative Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 (with B. Nolan, D. Checchi, I. Marx, A. McKnight, I. György Tóth, and H. van de Werfhorst).

article(s)

  • The labor market in the Netherlands, 2001–2024 Updated

    The observations point to a marked underlying shift in bargaining power from unions to employers

    Wiemer SalverdaJoop Hartog, October 2025
    The Netherlands has long been an example of a highly and centrally institutionalized labor market paying considerable attention to equity concerns. Fracturing of the labor force by the rapid demise of the single-earner model and accelerating immigration, falling union density, and reductions in welfare state provisions have shrunk labor’s market power centrally and decentrally. Wages lagged far behind productivity growth, job security strongly declined and wage inequality increased. This comes to the fore with a lack of offensive union power when after 2016 labor demand accelerated and the economy and employment quickly reached new heights after the pandemic crisis.
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