Christian Democrat (CDA) and Labour (PvdA) MPs are set to urge the cabinet to take tough action to stem the rise in hard-to-fill job vacancies. In particular, young people should be stimulated to choose trades where there are a high number of jobs on offer, MPs said.

Parliament is due to debate the social affairs budget this week.
Figures from the national statistics office CBS last week showed that despite the economic recovery and growth in jobs, unemployment had risen for the first time in several years. Areas such as healthcare, construction and light engineering find it particularly difficult to recruit new workers.
MPs are set to argue that many school leavers make the wrong career choice because they do not have a realistic vision of the jobs market and do not want to work with their hands. ‘It is not just a question of what you want to be, but of what your chances are on the labour market,’ CDA MP Gerda Verburg told news agency ANP. Labour MP Jet Bussemaker said youngsters should be rewarded with lower student fees if they went into areas where there was a shortage of workers. ‘If we continue the way we are going, employers will have to call on Poles and Romanians to fill job vacancies,’ she said.
MPs this week are also set to urge the cabinet to do more to help people on unemployment and invalidity benefit get back to work through easing the financial risks for employers.