Saturday 06 March 2021

Participation law failed the disabled, MPs want return to sheltered workplaces

Participation law failed the disabled, MPs want return to sheltered workplaces

The law aimed at helping people with a mental or physical disability get a regular job has largely failed and a majority of MPs have now voted in favour of a return to sheltered work projects. Sheltered work projects for the disabled were phased out from 2015 when the so-called participation law came into effect. However, an evaluation by the SCP think-tank in late 2019 showed that the law had led to very few jobs and that more people with... More >

Unemployment rate drops slightly to 3.9%

Unemployment rate drops slightly to 3.9%

The official Dutch unemployment rate fell again slightly to 3.9% in December, as government coronavirus support measures kept people in work. Some 368,000 people were officially without a job in the Netherlands last month and the total has gone down by an average of 15,000 per month for the previous three months, the CBS figures show. However, the number of unemployment benefit (ww) claims rose in December for the first time in six months. In all, 9,000 new claims were... More >

The Hague's €1.3m job project to go bust

The Hague's €1.3m job project to go bust

A project set up by The Hague city council to retrain hundreds of unemployed youngsters so they could find a job helped just 17 people before the €1.3m in funding ran out, Omroep West said on Wednesday. The Energie Academie project was launched last February and should have helped 560 jobless youngsters and welfare claimants find work as plasterers, technicians and solar panel fitters over a two-year period. City council research published last summer showed that the project’s managers and... More >

Pay rose by 3% on average last year

Pay rose by 3% on average last year

Sector wide pay deals last year resulted in an average salary increase of 3%, the biggest rise in 12 years, national statistics office CBS said on Thursday. People working in industry, construction and the hospitality sector got the biggest pay rises, averaging 3.5%, while those in farming, fishing, transport and logistics lagged at the bottom of the table. The increases are largely the result of pay deals negotiated before the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the trend now is... More >

Take home pay will be higher in January

Take home pay will be higher in January

Wage slips will show a rise in take home pay of between 1.5% and 2% for most people next January, according to calculations by the social affairs ministry. The increase in disposable income is due to cuts in the income tax rates plus increases in allowances and the higher the salary, the higher the rise, the figures show. The figures do not include statutory pay rises and so could pan out higher for some people. At the same time, the... More >

Home working will impact on office demand

Office workers

Home working will impact on office demand

Vacancy rates on the office market in the Netherlands will not be hit too hard by the trend towards home working, according to research by real estate advisory group Colliers. Colliers suggest workers will be home based for one day a week and are most likely to pick Wednesdays and Fridays as days not to come into the office. If this is the case, the impact on the amount of office space a company needs will be limited and the... More >

380,000 contract workers have no buffer

380,000 contract workers have no buffer

The national audit office said on Wednesday that some 380,000 contract workers in the Netherlands do not have enough money to support themselves if they lost their jobs. In total one in five people who work on a flexible, zero hours or call-out contract have less than €1,000 in their bank account and do not have a partner who could support them, the audit office says in a new report. ‘It is precisely these employees, who work on temporary contracts... More >

Drenthe, Friesland lose most jobs

Drenthe, Friesland lose most jobs

The coronavirus crisis is having its most serious impact on the jobs market in Drenthe and Friesland, national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday. Although the percentage of the population in paid jobs has gone down nationwide, the two northern provinces have been proportionally the hardest hit so far, the CBS said. In both provinces the percentage of the population in work fell by 1.2 percentage points in the third quarter of the year, just 0.1 percent point more than... More >

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