The economic effects of the coronavirus crisis are expected to hit vulnerable employees and those with a non-Western background particularly hard, according to a new report from the SCP.

This socio-cultural think-tank has looked at people with flexible jobs in sectors that are likely to be hard hit, such as bars and restaurants, travel agencies, culture, sport and recreation. Certain ‘vulnerable’ groups are more likely to be employed in these sectors.

The SCP believes that people who have disabilities that limit their ability to work have a higher chance of losing their job, since 15.7% of them have a flexible contract in a sector that is likely to suffer, compared with 6% of the Netherlands’ total number of employees.

People with a non-Western background are also more likely to be employed in these types of jobs (14.3%), as are their children (12%), and the SCP believes that migrants from eastern Europe are particularly at risk. Those with lower levels of education are also likely to be affected, and the SCP warns that a generation could slip into poverty without government support.

‘Changes in the jobs market are closely related to poverty in the Netherlands, and this poverty will increase as a result of the corona crisis, particularly amongst groups that have traditionally been vulnerable,’ the report says. ‘When people live in poverty for more than a year, the change that they will ever escape it decreases dramatically.’

The body proposes that the government steps in to stimulate extra training – which could also be victim to corona cuts in companies – and income support for groups that could suffer.