This insightful book explores the relationship between labour markets and welfare states. Assessing current and future challenges confronting labour markets, and different responses to these challenges, it also highlights the distributional impact of changing labour markets in societies. Bent Greve demonstrates how welfare state support is key to ensuring a functioning labour market, and in turn how important the labour market is for collective well-being. Interdisciplinary and expansive, the book moves beyond traditional employment market issues, such as job scarcity and unemployment levels, to analyse contemporary family structures, happiness, health, and the role of technology. Greve argues that challenges such as labour shortages, work family balance and labour market functionality cannot be addressed by market forces alone. Informative and accessible, Understanding Labour Markets and Welfare is an essential resource for students and scholars of labour policy, comparative social policy and welfare state analysis. Researchers and policymakers specialising in the labour market, work and employment will also find this book invaluable.