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Netherlands

3. Employment & Entrepreneurship

3.2 Administration and governance

Last update: 18 March 2025
On this page
  1. Governance
  2. Main actors
  3. Consultation of young people
  4. Policy monitoring at the national level
On this page
  1. Governance
  2. Main actors
  3. Consultation of young people
  4. Policy monitoring and evaluation

Governance

Dutch government policy has a focus on youth employment and education for young people, but also on entrepreneurship, which will be discussed later on in this chapter. The government took a number of policy measures to tackle the problems with youth unemployment and to make education possible for all young people. In the next paragraphs the policy measures will be presented.

Labour market

Stimulating participation in the labour market is based on the Participation Act (2014). Everyone who can work but needs support in getting a job falls under this act. The act is meant to help all people (including youth) with or without work limitations in finding a suitable job.

In the Netherlands the re-integration policy is carried out in a decentralized way. The government establishes the frameworks and makes funds available to municipalities and the Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut WerknemersVerzekeringen; UWV). The municipalities and UWV are co-responsible for guiding jobseekers (including young people) towards an unemployment benefit, a training and/or a job during short-term and long-term unemployment.

The Dutch labour market is divided into 35 labour market regions (arbeidsmarktregio’s). Regional and local stakeholders are well informed about local labour market circumstances. They are able to provide, if necessary, custom-made support to unemployed people. This regional approach is the outcome of a process that started already in 2009 to create cooperation structures of stakeholders at the regional level in order to address unemployment issues.

Ministries involved

Since 2009 the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment together with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science have taken extra measures,  in addition to the already existing generic policy, to tackle youth unemployment as a result of the economic crisis. It is a joint approach with UWV, municipalities,  employers, schools, social partners and youths themselves. (See also section 3.6 Integration of young people in the labour market) 

Also, since 2020 the aforementioned ministries have taken various actions to tackle and prevent youth unemployment as a result of the corona crisis. (See also section 3.1 General context) 

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is the main actor for the areas of entrepreneurship and economic policy.

Cross-sectorial cooperation

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment works together with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on the issue of the transition between education and the labour market and on cooperation between education, companies and government in order for young people to find suitable jobs. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has partnerships with education institutes and business companies in order to find suitable traineeships and apprenticeships. In the following paragraphs the cooperation between these actors are presented. 

The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER)

The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands SER advises government and parliament on the directions of the implementation of socio-economic policies. Since October 2015 SER has an active youth platform. With this platform the SER wants to structure youth labour market participation within its activities. The Youth Platform meets a couple of times per year. The members discuss general topics and participate in specific consultation processes.. 

Youth Trade Unions

Youth trade unions can influence central policies through consultation. For example:

  • Federation Netherlands Trade Union - Young (FNV Jong). This is an organization for and by young people. Since 2006 the FNV has a seat at the Social and Economic Council SER.  
  • Christian National Trade Union – Young people (CNV Jongeren).
     

Initiative by young people

In 2023, the National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugdraad, NJR) started a collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to develop a National Youth Strategy. The Strategy was launched in 2024. One of the ten main theme's is economy, work and welfare. 

Main actors

Main governmental actors involved in policy making on youth employment:

Main public actors involved in policy making on youth employment:

  • Association of Netherlands Municipalities (Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten; VNG).
  • Employment service desk (Werkgevers Servicepunt). This is a cooperation between UWV (Employee Insurance Agency), municipalities, schools and several knowledge centres.
  • The Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands SER.
  • Dutch National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugd Raad).
  • Foundation for Cooperation on Vocational Education, Training and the Labor Market (SBB): Determines which companies can call themselves accredited work placement companies.
  • Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemers Verzekeringen UWV).
  • Municipalities’ councils aldermen (wethouders).
  • Transitpoint regions (Doorstroompunt-regio's, only in Dutch): There are 40 Transitpoint regions for reporting of early school leavers. The centers follow school leavers between the age of 18 and 23 until they have obtained their basic qualification. The regions were formerly known as Regional Reporting and Coordination Centers (Regionale Meld en Coördinatie punten, RMC).
  • Dutch Inspectorate of Education : Responsible for the inspection and review of schools and educational institutions.
  • Social Affairs and Employment (Inspectorate SWZ): Works on honest, healthy and safe work and income for all citizens.

Main non-public actors taking part in the regulation and implementation of youth employment:

Consultation of young people

Thanks to several (youth) councils young people have opportunities to express their concerns on topics such as employment and entrepreneurship. The following are examples of councils which represent young people in these topics:

  • FNV Jong and CNV Jongeren are both youth trade organizations that try to influence the government on topics such as youth employment and entrepreneurship. As stated above, young people can for example contact  FNV Jong if they encounter problems at work. The position of FNV Jong in the Social Economic Council gives them the right to advise the government directly.
  • Another example is the Dutch National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugd Raad). (See section 5.3 Youth representation bodies) 

Outcomes of consultations

In 2024 one hunderd young people indicated ten theme's that together form the National Youth Strategy (Nationale Jeugdstrategie) of the National Youth Council (Nationale Jeugdraad, NJR). These are continuously developed based on the input of young people through questionnaires, events and online minigames. 

In 2021 the Young People Think Tank Corona Crisis (Jongeren Denktank Coronacrisis) presented its advice about support for young people during the corona crisis to the Dutch prime minister: And now… actions! (En nu… daden!). Among other things the report contains advice about improving young people’s chances on the labour

In 2019 the Youth Platform of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) published the report High expectations chances and obstacles for young people in 2019 (Hoge verwachtingen: kansen en belemmeringen voor jongeren in 2019), which also has a chapter about youth employment.

Federation Netherlands Trade Union - Young (FNV Jong), which has a seat in the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER), helped to develop a consultation report about equal chances on the labour market for non-Dutch youth.

Policy monitoring at the national level

The programmes and policy measures of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment are being evaluated. In 2019 the Ministry of Finance published a policy review about the national policy for young people with (a risk to) poor employment prospects (Jongeren met (risico op) een afstand tot de arbeidsmarkt). In 2015 Panteia monitored the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment’s regional approach against youth unemployment: Monitor regionale aanpak jeugdwerkloosheid. The ministry’s previous Action Plan Youth Unemployment, prepared in 2009, was evaluated in 2011, also by Panteia: Acting together, Evaluation of the Action Plan on Youth unemployment (Samen in actie. Evaluatie Actieplan Jeugdwerkloosheid).

Some of the previous regional  Action Plans of the period 2014-2015 were also evaluated at regional level. An example is the Evaluation Action Plan Youth Unemployment region Rijnmond (Evaluatie Actieplan Jeugdwerkloosheid region Rijnmond). After the evaluation of this Action Plan region Rijnmond FNV Jong lobbied to renew the policy and the measures.  

All ministries  (Evaluations of policy - Evaluaties van beleid) are required to frequently evaluate their programmes and their acts. In their budget proposals the ministers present the evaluation studies they are planning. The outcome of the evaluation is reported in the annual report. The reports are discussed in Parliament.