Employment Equity Policies in Canada and the Netherlands: enhancing minority employment between public controversy and market initiative

Abstract

English Time and again employment statistics document the marginal position of (ethnic) minority groups within the labour force in Western multicultural nation states. There seems to be a broad, if differently motivated, consensus among politicians, employers and pressure groups that this situation cannot be prolonged with impunity. However, where it comes down to indicating the underlying causes and defining adequate solutions and policies, shared concern quickly dissolves into controversy. Legal measures to stimulate or ensure proportional representation of minority groups in the labour process are, more often than not, the focal points of such social disputes. A reconstruction of the historical development of equity policies in Canada, and more specifically in Ontario, and The Netherlands may clarify the nature of resistance against this controversial approach. It also sheds some light on the possibilities and limitations of alternative strategies impinging on the history of employment equity, such as voluntary efforts by employers’ organisations and labour unions, or the more decentralised and business-based practices of ‘managing diversity’.