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This volume explores how programmes such as social security, income transfers and child-care in Western Europe, the United States and Japan have affected labour-market flexibility - the ability of workers to adjust to fast-growing segments of the economy. Does tying health insurance to employment limit job mobility? Do housing policies inhibit workers from moving to new jobs in different areas? What are the effects of daycare and maternity-leave policies on working mothers? The authors explore these and many other questions in an effort to understand why European unemployment rates are so high compared with the US rate. Through an examination of diverse data-sets across different countries, the authors find that social protection programmes do not strongly affect labour-market flexibility. A useful comparison of labour markets and welfare programmes, this book demonstrates how social protection policies have affected employment rates around the globe.