News item | 11-07-2023 | 15:18
The cabinet will allocate 37.5 million euros over the next three years to help more status holders (refugees with a residence status) find work. Minister Van Gennip (Social Affairs and Employment) writes this to the House of Representatives, also on behalf of Minister Schouten (Poverty Policy, Participation and Pensions).
The largest part of this amount is intended for regional connectors, trials with starter jobs and a subsidy scheme for employers to make it easier to take on status holders.
Minister Van Gennip: Everyone in the Netherlands must be able to participate in society. Paid work is an important way to achieve this, especially for status holders. A large group of status holders is looking for a job, but this is not enough. With work, status holders can build up a life in the Netherlands more quickly, get to know the language and society more quickly and contribute to that society.
Regional connectors
There are already many initiatives to help status holders find work. These projects are often temporary, local and small-scale. As a result, they are often unknown to other municipalities, employers and social organisations.
For municipalities in the 35 labor market regions, an extra 12.25 million euros will now be made available to appoint regional connectors. They will start creating additional opportunities for status holders to find work, explore which projects are already running, which work well and how they can be scaled up. In this way, the minister is facilitating municipalities to put more effort into helping beneficiaries find work.
Runways
Permit holders are offered a paid job when they settle in the municipality, so that they can immediately participate and learn the language on the work floor. By means of four tests with a number of municipalities, SZW, municipalities, VNG and Divosa are investigating what works well to improve the labor market position of beneficiaries. In 2023, 2 million euros will be spent on the implementation of these four trials and accompanying research. In the following three years, 4.1, 4.1 and 4.5 million euros respectively will be available to use the results of the trials in other municipalities.
subsidy for employers
10.5 million euros will be made available to employers for tailor-made support for status holders in the workplace. This allows status holders to be guided in, for example, the organization of their work on the work floor and dealings with colleagues. Employers now often encounter the fact that they do not have the time and knowledge to support beneficiaries intensively and with knowledge of their culture. This tailor-made guidance helps employers with these obstacles, as a result of which they more often want to convert a temporary contract into a permanent contract.