Approximately 331,000 migrants living in the Netherlands want to work but cannot find a job – according to a report published on Thursday by the Dutch migration advisory body.
According to the independent advisory body, this represents “unused labour potential of the unemployed but work-ready group”.
Migrants of Turkish and Moroccan origin appear in the largest proportion in the unused labour group, with around 50,000 people, while among Syrian migrants the problem is the most severe proportionally: more than half of them are unemployed, despite wanting to work.
In its analysis, the council compared migrants with the Dutch-born population of similar age and gender without immigrant background.
It found that of the 1.7 million migrants aged 25-65, only 68 percent worked in 2022, while for the Dutch the figure was 86 percent.
According to the report, women are particularly severely affected by the problem: unemployment among them stands at 23 percent, while for men it is 15 percent.
Unemployment is particularly high among asylum seekers and those arriving through family reunification: three-quarters of them do not work. These groups – including refugees from Ukraine – account for nearly half of the unused labour potential.
The council suggests wide accessibility to Dutch language education: “Particularly among refugees and family migrants, talent wastage would decrease dramatically if they spoke Dutch perfectly” – the report states.
