To slow down the inflow of low -paid labor migrants, the minimum wage must be raised. In addition, there must be a temporary employment ban in sectors where many abuses take place. For companies that depend on low -paid labor by labor migrants, the government must abolish subsidies.
Various ministries, the CPB, SCP and the Labor Inspectorate write this in a report published on Friday. The Netherlands still has to attract foreign workers for high -quality jobs. After all, the economic benefits of low -paid labor migrants are small, while the pressure on facilities such as care and education is great.
“The Netherlands is addicted to low -paid work,” says outgoing Minister Eddy Van Hijum (Social Affairs, NSC). “This report shows that the current size of labor migration is untenable.”
The number of low -paid jobs in the Netherlands has grown three times as fast in the last ten years as the number of other jobs. That while it is intended that the Netherlands will become a high -quality knowledge economy, and the Dutch are now higher than ten years ago. Labor migrants come to the Netherlands especially for these low -paid jobs.
Night work
The Netherlands has an estimated one million labor migrants. The majority has a low -paid job, for example in greenhouses, distribution centers or slaughterhouses. Employment migrants often work among flexible contracts. Some have to deal with abuses such as underpayment, poor housing and unsafe working conditions.
Labor migrants, write the researchers, only offer temporary relief to the labor shortage
To keep collective facilities such as healthcare affordable, the State Committee on Demography advised moderate population growth at the beginning of last year. Because the population is only growing due to (labor) migration, it should therefore be slowed down. In addition to labor migrants, there are also migrants for asylum, study or their families to the Netherlands – although their share is a lot lower.
Labor migration is often mentioned as a solution for the shortage on the labor market. But, the researchers write, labor migrants only offer temporary relief to the labor shortage. In the long term, the presence of labor migrants increases the demand for work, partly because they use facilities such as care and education. The current composition of labor migrants even increases staff shortages in healthcare and education. After all, their children go to school here and they themselves go to the doctor.
The government is partly responsible for the strong growth in the number of labor migrants with low -paid work. In the Netherlands, for example, there are many distribution centers, where many labor migrants work, because the government allows night work. The Belgian government in principle prohibits night work, so there are fewer distribution centers. According to the researchers, the Netherlands should therefore also discourage night work.
At the end of the last century, the government wanted to increase employment, and to make that succeeded, she limited the rise in wages. The government also made it easier for employers to give employees flexible contracts. In this way, the business community was able to save considerably on labor costs, and the Netherlands got the most flexible labor market in Europe.
Now the government should reduce the demand for low -paid work, the researchers write. The minimum wage must be raised, and flexible contracts must be less flexible. According to the researchers, this will also ensure that employers will invest more in work -saving technologies. That is good for the economy, because labor productivity growth has been low for years and has to go up to remain internationally competitive.
Abuses
There must also be a ban on temporary work in sectors where many abuses take place, according to the research. Consider, for example, the meat sector. Temporary employment agencies regularly dismiss labor migrants there to be cheaper. A ban on broadcasting ensures higher wage costs for employers. According to the researchers, the use of temporary workers is about 15 percent cheaper than permanent employees.
The abolition of sectoral subsidies can also reduce the demand for low -paid labor migrants. Sectors that use low-paid work, such as greenhouse horticulture, have been able to grow due to a reduced VAT rate on floriculture or a lowered energy tax rate. With this subsidy, the government is currently encouraging production and therefore also the demand for these migrants in greenhouse horticulture. The question is, the researchers write, or have sectors that depend on low -paid work for their business operations have a future in the Netherlands. “The government must choose more consciously which sectors it supports.”
By working on measures for nitrogen and climate, labor migration also diminishes. Some sectors make extensive use of low -paid labor migrants and, for example, bumps a lot of CO2 out and have a high energy use. Consider the (glass) horticulture, logistics and metal industry. The government could recover the social costs of climate damage and nitrogen emissions from companies in these sectors through the pricing of Co, for example2-Moet, according to the investigation.
Distribute costs more fairly
The researchers also write that the costs of labor migration must be distributed more fairly. Currently, employers in particular benefit from the low wage costs and consumers of lower prices for products. But labor migrants can, for example, increase the pressure on the housing market and education. “The pressure in schools is increasing because they are confronted with children of labor migrants with a Dutch language deficit.” According to the researchers, companies should therefore contribute to the social costs of labor migration through a voluntary fund.
The transition to a high -quality knowledge economy does have a prize. Companies will have to incur costs to automate. This can also ensure that some products become more expensive. Inflatio of flexible labor can also temporarily lead to higher unemployment, because employers are reluctant to give a permanent contract.