News item | 09-12-2024 | 5:00 PM
With a new law ‘From school to sustainable work’, the government will better help young people who are at a distance from the labor market. Minister Bruins (Education, Culture and Science), State Secretary Nobel (Participation and Integration) and State Secretary Paul (Fundamental Education and Emancipation) want to improve the transition from education to the labor market, in order to utilize as much labor potential as possible. Under the new law, young people who need it will receive support from schools, transfer points and municipalities, which are required to cooperate. This support is available for young people up to the age of 27 from secondary vocational education, secondary education, pro and early school leavers.
Minister Bruins: “Too large a group of young people are left out of the crucial transition from school to work. While we have a huge shortage of professionals. We see that these young people have difficulty entering the labor market independently. We also see that help from permanent supervisors, for example in contacting potential employers or by learning additional job application skills, helps young people find a job that suits them. With this law we prevent disappointment and dropout and contribute to the training and deployment of professionals who are so desperately needed to keep our society running.”
Secretary of State Nobel: “It is unimaginable that more than a hundred thousand young people are standing aside and not participating. Employers are eager for staff. We really need everyone. That is why we invest extra in young people who have difficulty entering the labor market. And we offer them better guidance in the transition from school to work and in case of unemployment.”
State Secretary Paul: “Everyone must be able to participate properly in the labor market, because we need everyone in the Netherlands. Young people in secondary special education or practical education sometimes benefit from longer guidance from schools to find a suitable and appropriate place in the labor market. It’s great that this bill now makes this possible.”
Gap in legislation and regulations
Despite the staff shortages, according to Statistics Netherlands, there are more than 100,000 young people who are neither employed nor in training (CBS (2024) Young people who are not in education and do not work – National Youth Monitor Annual Report 2024 | CBS). When a young person obtains a diploma, the responsibility and support of the educational institution stops. Not all young people then independently find a job or further education. Municipalities cannot always provide sufficient preventive and appropriate support to these young people. Young people may disappear from view or not know where to find help. The new law bridges the gap between the municipality, schools, transfer points and employers to prevent this. Successful elements from the temporary approach to youth unemployment are continued and recorded in this law. The aim is for the law to come into effect on January 1, 2026.
Longer guidance
Schools will be legally obliged to offer young people ‘additional career guidance’, even after they have left school. Schools must also record how they organize this. For example, ROC Mondriaan will make the existing On the Way to Work program permanently and more widely available, so that students are guided to a job via outflow coaches for up to one year after graduation. With VSO and PRO, help is also possible at the request of the young person in a second year after leaving school. For organizing this longer guidance, MBO institutions structurally receive 20 million and pro and secondary education schools 1.5 million. Transition Points guide young people up to the age of 27 who leave education without a starting qualification back to school or to work. They now do this for young people up to the age of 23.
Role of municipality
The school or the Transition Point, in consultation with the young person, can also request help from the municipality in matching for work or combining work with learning. This way, the young person can receive the most appropriate support. Young people who do not have work can also receive support from municipalities. The Participation Act will be amended to carry out this task.
Collaboration between organizations
A successful approach to reducing the number of early school leavers and youth unemployment requires the efforts of various expertise and organizations. For example, help must be available at school for young people who suffer from psychological problems, debts or who exhibit criminal behavior. A proven example of this is the ‘school as workshop’ at Firda (formerly Friesland College), where the school, municipality and institutions from (youth) care and assistance work together to recognize and tackle problems of young people outside school. Many regions also employ transition coaches to support students from secondary education in the transition to secondary vocational education. Or job coaches help young people find work and ensure that it is a success with practical advice to both young people and employers. The law stipulates cooperation between organizations in the regions. More than €90 million will be made available annually for this purpose. This is €40 million more than now.