A raise in the unofficial Dutch retirement age from 65 to 67 will be unavoidable if measures to boost the size of the workforce fail to have an effect, the cabinet says in its reaction to the Bakker commission report on boosting employment levels.

In particular, people must realise that it is quite normal to work until the age of 65, the cabinet said.
The cabinet said it is positive about many of the measures proposed by the commission. The suggestion that employers be made responsible for finding new jobs for people they want to sack will be looked at in more detail. ‘We are going to see if it can be done,’ social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner said on Friday.
The cabinet also plans to adopt some of the commission’s short term proposals to stimulate people to work until they reach 65. For example, companies taking on older staff will get discounts on their social security premiums.