3.1 General context
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Labour market situation in the country
The Dutch government is actively involved in taking care that young people leave school with a diploma and are able to find a suitable job. For this the government takes policy measures and cooperates with both the business world and the education sector.
In 2024, 8.7% of the 15 to 25 year old working population was unemployed. This is an increase compared to 2023 and 2022, but still lower than in 2021. In 2023, this was 8.2 %, in 2022 7.6% and in 2021 9.3% of job-seeking young people who were unemployed.
Despite the increase in the percentage of unemployed young people in 2024, the share of job-seeking young people has gradually decreased over the past ten years. In 2014, this was almost 13% and in 2024 almost 9%. In 2019, the unemployment rate among young people was lower than ever at 6.7%. In 2020 and 2021, there was also an increase in unemployment among young people. This increase was probably due to the corona pandemic, but there were still fewer young people looking for work than in 2014. (Statistics Netherlands, 2025).
Young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs)
NEETs can be early school leavers, but they do not have to be. Conversely, an early school leaver does not have to be a NEET. This is the case if he or she is working.
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science published Young people not in education and not working (NEET) | Netherlands internationally compared | OCW in data (Jongeren niet in opleiding en niet werkzaam (NEET) | Nederland internationaal vergeleken | OCW in cijfers) on their website. It compares the data of NEETs internationally with OECD countries. The data are based on the OECD publication Education at a glance Education at a Glance 2024 | OECD (September 2024). That shows the following outcome:
In the Netherlands, 4.9% of young people (18-24 years) did not have a job and is not in education in 2023. Internationally, this group is small in the Netherlands. The percentage in 2023 has decreased compared to 2019.
The share of young people in education is higher than the average in OECD countries. In all countries the share of NEET young people is higher than in the Netherlands.
The share of young people in education has increased over seven years. This increase is stronger in the Netherlands than the average in OECD countries. The share of working young people in the Netherlands has decreased by 5 percentage points compared to 2016, and the percentage of NEET young people has decreased by 2 percentage points compared to 2016.
Definitions and concepts
Municipalities support young people without a diploma or the necessary start qualification. For youngsters so-called learning companies (in Dutch: leerbedrijven) have been developed as an educational route to combine studying and working, in the sense of learning by doing.