Netherlands : The number of job vacancies for young people is increasing rapidly in the Netherlands, especially for young people with vocational qualifications. Between September 2016 and February 2017 there were a total of 214 thousand vacancies at vocational level, according to a study by benefits agency UWV and the organization for cooperation between vocational education and the business world SBB, NU.nl reports.
The last quarter of 2016 had 26 percent more vocational vacancies than the same quarter in 2015.
The study also looked at the best job opportunities at the various levels of education within the vocational education MBO. At MBO level 2 young people with a qualification as a mechanic, logistics assistant or cook have the best opportunities. At level 3 there is a high demand for sales specialists and counselors in disability care.
“Employers jump for people with an MBO diploma”, SBB chairman Michael van Straalen said. This is especially true in the care, retail and logistics sectors. Van Straalen thinks more should be done to motivate students to follow vocational education. “The MBO is the best preparation for the labor market.”
Young people in general are doing well on the labor market. The number of unemployment benefits for young people under the age of 27 decreased by nearly a quarter in the first four months of this year. In that quarter UWV issued 24 thousand unemployment benefits for this age group, about seven thousand less than in the first quarter of 2016.
And young people find work relatively easily after losing their jobs, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Thursday. Eight out of ten 15 to 30 year olds have new work within a year of losing their jobs, according to the stats office. For comparison, only 41 percent of over 45-year-olds find new work within a year, and 66 percent of people between the ages of 30 and 45. For these figures Statistics Netherlands studied UWV dismissal permits for the period 2011 to 2014.
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