With the election of the Conservative government in the UK in 1979, there came a general belief in the operation of the free market which permeated every walk of economic life including the labour market. Factors which interfered with the operation of the free market (e.g. the trade unions) only served to reduce the efficiency of the market. The UK government took the American approach of labour market flexibility as its model. In the USA, there was less employment protection, lower unemployment benefits (which made low-paid employment more attractive), more flexible wages and fewer social overheads. Many measures were introduced to make labour markets more flexible and responsive to market conditions.