The government’s macro economic policy advisory group CPB is very critical of the part-time unemployment benefit scheme introduced to help companies deal with surplus staff during the recession, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.

Companies which have been hard hit by the economic downturn can apply to have staff hours cut by up to 50%. Workers can then claim unemployment benefit for the hours they have lost.
But this means firms are keeping on unwanted staff at a time when there are 120,000 vacancies waiting to be filled, the CPB’s Coen Teulings and Casper van Ewijk said on Tuesday. The researchers made the statement at the presentation of their book on the recession.
The part-time benefit scheme operates as a subsidy on wages, the duo say. ‘The scheme’s popularity rests on the idea that there are no new jobs at times of crisis so it is better to keep people in their current jobs. But that is a misconception,’ the paper quoted them as saying.