In this paper, we subscribe the idea that the connexions and interactions between labour
markets and social protection systems are extremely important factors to determine
the good performance of modern capitalist societies. We emphasize that labour mar-
kets and social protection systems, namely in the EU member states, are currently facing
enormous challenges that come both from external (e.g. economic globalization,
economic constraints imposed by the EMU, neoliberal approaches calling for a reduction
in social protection mechanisms) and internal changes (e.g. demographic changes
and changes in family composition, diversification of forms of employment and high
levels of unemployment). The responses to these (new) trends are embedded in different
welfare state and labour market configurations. In particular, workers’ integration
into the labour market depends on national political and institutional settings. Different
welfare backgrounds reflect differential designs of pension systems,
employment protection legislation (EPL) and other welfare state subsystems, which
are responsible for the creation of specific incentives and disincentives for the withdrawal