Dutch youth leader: follow youth to reduce unemployment

The future of graduation students of the MBO (middle level applied education/vocational training), including their contact details, must be recorded over the next four weeks, to avoid their long-term unemployment.

That is the first step which is needed to avoid soaring youth unemployment as a consequence of the economic crisis.

This is the opinion of Hans de Boer, expressed in his advice “Tegen de Stroom in” (“swimming against the tide”) that he presented today to the government for an action plan against youth unemployment. According to the former president of association MKB-Nederland and ex-captain of the Youth Task Force Youth Unemployment, youth are likely to be heavily affected by the crisis.

According to De Boer, it is especially risky to lose sight of young people when they leave school. “Not that this is only about problematic youth, but they just have bad luck with this crisis in the labour market.” He points to expectations that unemployment among young people under 27 will rise from about 80,000 to about 150,000 unemployed.

Teachers and deans in MBO education have to talk to students approaching graduation about work and/or continued schooling, according to De Boer. The registration of students’ contact information before they leave school, places schools in the position to contact students approximately half a year after their graduation, in October, to see how they are doing.

Youth who do not work and are not in education, have to be assisted in returning to school or to take up an apprenticeship. According to De Boer, annually approximately 1 million jobs are still available, even in a recession. A campaign to better align supply and demand on the labour market alignment should be established.

Funding is also not the problem according to De Boer. In the crisis package of the Dutch government, 250 million Euros has been reserved for the fight against youth unemployment in the coming years.

Furthermore, De Boer welcomed the agreement of employers and unions, to offer a job or training position to school leavers, after three months of unemployment. 25,000 apprenticeships have already been approved. In this set-up young people will earn a little more than social benefits, and the employers is compensated for half of this amount through wage subsidies.

Source: NRC, Netherlands (from Mireille de Koning, EI)
http://www.nrc.nl/binnenland/article2240138.ece/De_Boer_volg_mboers_om_werkloosheid_te_beperken